Everton concluded one of the most important transfer windows in the club's modern history weaker than when it started.
Every club that could get dragged into a Premier League relegation battle has spent millions in the hope of avoiding that fate. Everton spent none. The club's efforts were not without some misfortune - the remarkable last minute U-turn of winger Arnaut Danjuma, who joined Tottenham Hotspur while on the brink of committing to the Blues, was the most explosive story of January.
But despite the club entering the new year with an apparent acceptance the first team squad was in need of at least two forwards, and with majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri then reassuring supporters a striker would be signed, new manager Sean Dyche will not have any new additions ahead of his first match in charge this weekend. And with Anthony Gordon having departed - albeit in acrimonious circumstances - a club desperately in need of forwards has somehow emerged from this transfer window with even fewer attacking options.
