Everton are a Top 5 Premier League team and if we want to stay that way and maybe even go higher we have to follow the example of the teams around us.

Chelsea (€71M), Liverpool (€48M), Man City (€15M) and Man Utd (€73.5M) are all spending to improve their squads while we have done nothing.

But no that’s not true, we haven’t done nothing, we have actually lost three of our best players (Barry, Lukaku, Deulofeu).

So while our rivals have already so far spent a combined €207.5 (and counting) strengthening their squads we have spent nothing and lost three of our better players.

I’m not panicking because I trust Roberto to work wonders but I am beginning to get slightly worried.

Looking at the list all our transfer targets have already gone.

Now I would love to be able to welcome the superstar players to Goodison in August but it isn’t going to happen. Those clubs you so easily dismiss are the types of clubs we have to try and compete with and if possible coax their better players to join us.

The reason Kenwright will leave it to the last possible moment are two-fold: firstly, there are obviously players such as Lukaku and Barry who Martinez wants to keep and he will bide his time for as long as is practical in order to attain them, but I’m sure he has back-up targets if he can’t capture them.

Secondly, BK knows that the bargains come and opportunities arise later in the window when players realise their dream moves might not happen and look to the next best option to further their careers.

Martinez’s situation is no different to that of all of our managers in the Premier League era. As you are such a devoted supporter, I would have thought that the penny may have dropped by now.

The last two January windows is where the club has let the fans down, because there was a genuine chance of reaching the Champions League in both seasons and a bit of speculation then may well have returned handsome dividends, but at this moment in time the chances of Everton FC achieving the Champions League have diminished; even if we went out and spent £50M, I personally don’t think it would be enough to break that glass ceiling. That doesn’t mean that Everton FC can’t make the Champions League – just that the probability is a lot less today than it has been in the past two seasons.

What’s the odds on us having a negative spend in this one? Fairly high I imagine....

Let's not be surprised if only one or two happen before the season starts. It's going to be another nail-biting deadline day, me finks!

I would be concerned that without reinforcements our first 3 games this season may yield a similar, or worse return which may impact on our transfer activity.

Last season we handicapped ourselves with leaving it so late, and compounded it in January. I had hoped we wouldn’t make the same mistakes but all the utterances so far suggest it’s de rigueur now at Everton.

We are all wanting to see the younger players promoted. Why the panic to see players brought in ahead of them. I want to see the squad developed as much as anyone but why not do so with the younger players who are ready.

Everton have gone the other way. We have lost two key players from last season, and one that played a decent enough cameo, and so far, any signings look way off. We can’t even get a deal done for ’free agent’ Barry.

Now Roberto is back, hopefully we will see some action, and obviously the signings the other clubs have made are no guarantee of success, but I can understand the worry. Right now, we look light years behind at least five clubs in our league.

Our squad of established players includes Kone and Oviedo who will be back from long term, serious injuries and who may never reach their previous levels, arguably also Gibson and Pienaar. If you exclude Robles who can’t play at the same time as Howard, Hibbert who barely played last season and Alcaraz who is injury prone, we’re really down to the bare bones.

Gosh, there’s some buying / loaning to do! It can’t all be done at the last minute!

Of course it’s early days yet but one would hope that Martinez would bring in at least a couple of players before pre-season starts. Let’s hope the next few weeks will be busier than the last few.

Liverpool are setting a much better example in terms of activity, obviously they’re going to sell Suarez which is less than ideal for them but, they’ve already got Lallana, Lambert and Can in and seem to have Lovren, Origi and Markovic are lined up.

The point is less about whether these are players that could/should interest us or even about the volume (Liverpool have more money than us we need to deal with it), but more the fact that it demonstrates that business can be done easily World Cup or not (several of these are/were playing in said tournament).

In terms of specific players, the one that may raise questions would be Origi who based on the World Cup at least has looked like a better, younger, hungrier striking option than Lukaku and seems to be available at half (or less) the going rate.

Simple housekeeping would suggest stalling the likes of Barry’s move would save the club £500k in Summer (wasted) wages, which I get. But maybe the club should be conscious that we need to signal our intent more positively, which would do two things in my mind:

1. Satisfy the club’s following with a clear implementation plan. This could stimulate more positive debate, raise morale and encourage additional season ticket sales and commercial spending as a result;

2. Make more agents aware of our ambitions. This could attract better calibre players who may not have considered us as an option because we didn’t look positive enough.

I too trust Roberto, I just hope he has not had any wool pulled over his eyes from a board that, one way or another, have managed to survive intact.

Onward Evertonians...

I’d say there’s a much better chance that they’ve actually scouted him and looked to sign him based on his actual ability and potential.

Personally, I thought Origi looked ok when coming on as sub, but did even less than Lukaku when he started games.

As far as other transfers, one decent CB a solid CM, a nippy winger and a block of a CF like Lukaku and I’d be happy. If we got Deufoleu on a loan again, I would take arm and all, and signing Barry is pivotal

What happened to Tottenham? Two managers sacked and behind... Oh! — us in the league.

Signing a player is not just for Christmas, you have to live with that for three, four or even five years. I can honestly say I would not sign any of the players except Fernando.

Liverpool may well do a Tottenham and go backwards rapidly; remember, like Bale, Suarez is the glue that holds them together.

If he hasn’t been extensively scouted previously, then all of his senior games will have been watched and stats poured over.

Alright, we have a new manager with great vision and ideas but, while this buffoon of a chairman and his totally fucking useless board remain, don’t expect anything else to change.

We will probably bring another two or three loans in and probably a mediocre signing, with lying arse pocketing the rest of the money, and if you expect anything else then you’re a fool.

He’s only 19 but was selected to play in a World cup quarter final for Belgium. And he produced nothing.

Personally, I hope they sign him.

As for us, I am slightly twitchy but do trust in RM to know what he is doing. If anyone he wanted was going somewhere else, he’d have been in for them I think, and even then you can’t compete with Champions League teams realistically.

There will be loans and hopefully a top striker signing, but why we haven’t yet signed Barry is starting to concern me..

He can go anywhere he likes on a free... apart from Everton, who have to give City £2M for the player, but Bollocky Bill no longer wants the agreed deal to stand and wants to welch – that's the only reason, as far as I can see, that we haven't signed him.

Can you think of another?

Without Risk We Cannot Improve

I think the other thing that I am sure RM has taken into account is that this is probably the last season that we will see Pienaar, Osman and Distin as regular starters, so replacements will have to be found for these three who when fit started practically every game.

It will be for a few reasons.

For players of Lukaku's calibre, it will be to wait for Europe's top clubs to ignore him, giving us a chance to sign him.

For players of lesser quality, we will wait for the big teams to make their signings so that we can see what is available. For example, Cleverly may well end up surplus to requirements soon, especially if Van Gaal signs more centre mids.

Only a handful of players of the required quality who we can compete for have actually gone elsewhere. Gauld, Lescott and a few others. We can only assume Martinez isn't actually interested in those players. Looking through the list of other signings, I wouldn't have any of them.

To be honest, I can see where frustration could arise; I'd love to see us sign some players too. However I remember two things which keep me calm:

1) We have one of the best managers around in charge.
2) Our manager isn't giving off any negative waves in terms of his transfer budget or BK. In fact he signed an extended contract!

Every season we get out-spent. I've got used to it; it's not going to change. While the manager is good and the board give him the stability to work I don't see that situation changing.

I should've said that I can see us being able to compete for top 4 each season despite being out-spent, provided we have a good manager and give him the stability to work.

I do not believe that is the case, the young players are clearly on first-team trial this week, and I understand that Galloway (MK Dons) and Byrne (Man Utd) are also there on a trial to see if they are ready for first-team duties.

I think that when the first-team squad start their pre-season camp, then a number of possibles will join them.

You are right about the pace of development in Spain, but they do have the advantage of B-teams at their disposal.

We will start worrying when Roberto can't get hold of Kenwright on the phone when asking for money for transfers.

Bill will come out on transfer deadline day with his usual bullshit of how we tried but etc etc and then sell someone at 11:59 and say that we would have bought someone with the money brought in but it simply didn't give us enough time to do so....

Oh just fuck off, transfer window!.... hate them.

Agree entirely, thankfully it seems to be Roberto policy to build a academy system that will bring these players on.

The trouble is that these policies take time to fruition, the average
supporter, while saying bring on young players, will be building gallows if some of there unrealistic expectations are not met.

It is worth remembering Ferguson did not do anything for three or four years until his class of "92" came to the forefront.

Will we be patient with Roberto?

Well I hope so, I really believe he will take us back to the glory years.

Now that is a panic buy.

£11 million for Ross McCormack???

The world's gone mad, even taking inflation into account.

£11 million for a Championship player... and we have some Evertonians worrying about paying £20 million for a proven 1 in 2 goalscorer.

Bill will wax lyrical and all will be well with the faithful.

(Or a lot of them anyway.)

The rewards for Premier League football are enormous.

In response to Wayne's thread – your article frightens the shit out of me.

I believe there is every reason to panic and here's why:–

[1] We are all blue-blooded and passionate about this wonderful club. So can we be seriously, regularly and justifiably querying BK's lack of investment every pre-season transfer window? Let's face it, Billy Liar is a past master at it. He serves the same cold dish every year.

However, will the signing of 33-year-old Gareth Barry on a 3-year contract (plus at least £1m to Man City) have Bill in a sweat and keep the fans muted?
This pre-season charade and pantomime our impresario regularly performs is nothing new. It's frustrating and a wild card lottery to what the man will actually attain in the way of players for the forthcoming season's battle.

The press have about as much idea as he does – little to none.

[2] The loss of quality key players in Lukaku and Deulofeu is deeply concerning. The latter is certainly not coming back whilst the former openly states he wants Champions League football at a big club. That's us instantly dismissed... Or is it ? Can Magic Martinez persuade the lumbering giant the best place at this stage in his career is here at the biggest club outside of the Champions League?

As such, Mr Kenwright needs to spend massive on one player and we all know he does not like that one bit. The last was Shrek – Bill made a tidy profit on him – and he proved to be no loss.

On quality, I would like to trust Roberto (although the next point is somewhat at odds with this statement). We need it desperately.

[3] The failures of the Wigan contingent. Only one out of four players purchased from Wigan has justified his fee and wage: McCarthy (who has still massive bags of potential). This coming season, we'll find out if he can make that step up.

The other 3 should be sold pronto. Cut our losses and be done with them. Their quality is insufficient for inclusion in the squad.

[4] The first team and squad shortages compared to other clubs is vast. But that again is nothing new. However, shunting the young bloods in as Wayne has done in his article holds no substance. None of them have proven anything throughout their formative years and all have failed to impact when given a chance (albeit limited). To throw them in as replacements for experience and quality is foolhardy at best. It's not like they have won anything at youth level or even internationally at Under-21, Under-17 or lower!

Of our first team, Gibson is so injury-prone he's unlikely to see a month through. If injuries hit others we are stuffed! Particularly at centre-half. Pienaar has sadly failed to produce anything whatsoever post Spurs. Oviedo seemed to be getting better when tragedy struck. Ozzy's ... well, Ozzy and, although loyal like Hibbo, should only be a squad man.

So, with the attacking strength of Naismith and Mirallas supported by the only few quality players we have, we should be done and dusted and out of everything fairly promptly.
UNLESS BILL KENWRIGHT SERIOUSLY SPENDS!!!

I appreciate what you say; if we lived in a world where Everton could compete on the same as every club, and we had £50M+ to spend on two world class players, every year, I would join in the shout of "get some money spent".

However, the possibility of Everton being able to spend big for big name players is not realistic.

Man Utd have just signed a kit deal for £75M per year. Three of their sponsorships bring in £143M per year. I understand that is more than the gate receipts of 17 Premier League clubs.

We can only hope to compete by finding young players on a conveyer belt basis. In a long and fortunate life, I have learned that nothing is fair, especially if you are a Everton supporter.