Friday 5 July 2019 17:25, UK
What do Everton need to break the top-six stranglehold for the first time since 2016 and get back among England's top clubs?
The club have already spent £22m on making Andre Gomes' loan spell at Goodison Park a permanent one, with more business expected to be done before the start of the season.
But will it be enough for a team who finished in the top six five seasons out of eight up until 2014, but have not been able to break back in since?
Everton were in focus during Friday's Good Morning Transfers show on Sky Sports News, with plenty of business still to be completed ahead of the new season at Goodison Park.
"They need to confirm the loan signings they had last season," reporter Dave Reed told the show. "They've already got Andre Gomes in, and Marco Silva's next target will be Kurt Zouma from Chelsea. Can he get it confirmed and will Frank Lampard let him go?
"Elsewhere on the list is turning their attention to a forward, have they ever replaced Romelu Lukaku? And finally, players going out - Yannick Bolasie, James McCarthy, Oumar Niasse."
Sky Sports News reporter Michael Bridge told the show Marco Silva had said before he joined Everton they were 'team number seven' in the Premier League - and best-placed to end the three-year dominance of the current teams in the top six.
"I asked what that meant and he said if anyone were to break into the top six, he saw Everton as that team," he said. "Interesting, because how many new players do they need to break into the top six? For me they never truly replaced Romelu Lukaku, and that needs to be sorted."
But will they have competition? Everton finished eighth in 2018/19, behind Premier League new boys Wolves, and only two points ahead of Leicester and West Ham.
Outgoings could also play a major part in the Toffees' hopes for the new campaign - both to help finance new additions and ensure their existing squad does not get overly bloated.
"They've got players there who have been given a chance and not really taken them to the next level," reporter Anton Toloui said. "But there's youth prospects who have been highly rated in there too.
"Tom Davies, Kieran Dowell we saw in the England U21s, there's players there - Marco Silva's been there a year, he knows what the players can do, he needs to trim the squad and, I think, know his best line-up."
It'll be a tough job to force one of Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United out of the way to secure a top-six finish - but do you think it's possible?
Let us know whether you think Everton will make it in our poll below.
