The bulk of Everton’s squad return to Finch Farm today but what tasks might be at the top of Sean Dyche’s in tray as he begins his first pre-season as Blues boss?
Focus on recruitment
At this point last year, Everton already had James Tarkowski through the door following his Bosman-style free transfer after his contract at Burnley expired. The centre-back from Dyche’s former club was one of eight eventual new faces that window.
As thing stand, the Blues haven’t brought in anyone and the squad is considerably lighter than at the end of last season – a campaign in which they posted the lowest equivalent points total in their entire 135-year history in the Football League/Premier League – following the exits of Yerry Mina, Conor Coady, Tom Davies and Asmir Begovic.
So there’s a quartet of holes to be filled straight away and we haven’t even got to the priority positions within the squad – a couple of attackers in the shape of both a centre-forward and a winger – plus another left-back. Dyche’s office at Finch Farm is next door to director of football Kevin Thelwell’s but despite his talk of “hard work” in the final days of the winter window after his arrival and that “loads of phone calls were made and offers were put in,” over five months on, his wait for his first signing goes on.
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Working on player fitness
On being appointed Everton manager, Dyche declared: “I know about Everton’s passionate fanbase and how precious this club is to them. We’re ready to work and ready to give them what they want.
“That starts with sweat on the shirt, effort and getting back to some of the basic principles of what Everton Football Club has stood for for a long time.”
Taking charge midway through a campaign, Dyche and his staff had to get a lot of points across in a relatively short space of time to ensure he was able to mastermind their survival, having inherited a team who were joint bottom of the table when he arrived. Now though, they have a full pre-season programme to work on implementing their ideas.
After a few days at their usual base in Halewood, the squad will be heading off to by the shores of Lake Geneva where they will steps things up in their training camp before facing Swiss second-tier outfit Stade Nyonnaise. As Dyche always proclaims, the mantra for his side is that “the minimum requirement is maximum effort” and that includes being fit to play your part.
Clearing the decks
Everton’s transfer conundrums don’t just apply to bringing players in but also getting shut of the deadwood and there are some high-earners who are surplus to requirements that are proving particularly tricky to shift. Howard Kendall, Colin Harvey and Alan Ball – the most-fabled midfield trio in the club’s history – were dubbed ‘The Holy Trinity’ but the Blues are facing a scenario more akin to football hell than heaven when it comes to trying to get Dele Alli, Andre Gomes and Jean-Philippe Gbamin off their books.
It’s a major headache that Dyche has inherited but along with Thelwell, has to try and find a solution to. Even on a good day – and those have been few and far between – none of the three screams of being a natural candidate to walk into an Everton team under the current gaffer.
Dele’s form fell off a cliff while still at Tottenham Hotspur and he hasn’t been able to resurrect his reputation at either Goodison Park or during a traumatic loan spell at Besiktas, and even if there were glimpses of a revival, with the England international just seven games away from activating the first £10million payment to his previous club that Daniel Levy inserted in the deal, his future looks destined to be elsewhere. Gomes was once popular but appears off the pace since his return from a horror injury and, after his own lengthy spells on the sidelines, Gbamin has never so much as got going. But the million dollar question is: Just who will take them?
