The summer transfer window has already kicked off for some clubs across the Premier League, with some moves already being completed shortly after the close of the 2021/22 season.
For Everton, that's not quite been the case as of yet. There have been the usual links as people try to assess the lay of the land after what was a dismal season at Goodison Park, but nobody has been confirmed as being a new arrival so far.
The only movement that the club has seen up to this point has been the departure of Cenk Tosun, who confirmed that he will be leaving the club upon the expiry of his contract. He won't be the only one, of course, with the Blues having already submitted their retained list to the Premier League - with those not due to stay at the club set to be announced a little later this month.
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In terms of incomings, though, Everton fans potentially shouldn't be all-too-surprised that things have been a little quiet in the early stages of this window. As one supporter pointed out on social media earlier this week, it's not exactly uncommon for them to wait a little while before making their first moves.
Twitter user UpperGwladysBlue took to the social media site on Wednesday to share his thoughts on the beginning of the transfer window as excitement already builds around who Everton should sign. His tweet depicted a list of when the Blues have made their earliest first-team signings of each of the last ten summers, showing that fans often have to wait to see someone holding up a shirt at Finch Farm.
Most of the transfers occur in July with only three taking place in June, technically including Tom Cleverley's move in 2015 here as it was officially announced on June 5th as he was to leave Manchester United as a free agent. The midfielder then officially signed on the dotted line on July 1st.
But what the tweet certainly shows is that it's not a regular occurrence for Everton to make their moves quickly in a transfer window, over the last ten years particularly. Instead they have preferred a slower approach in terms of identifying their targets and making their moves - to, let's be honest, a wildly varying degree of success.
Whether a move happens early in a transfer window or later on is often somewhat irrelevant to how well a player is going to perform when they eventually make the move to their new club. Of course you have to consider getting them in for the start of pre-season can ultimately be a huge benefit, as can beating any potential rivals to the punch by making sure you get the transfer through the door early.
And perhaps Everton might have the chance to break their trend somewhat in the next few weeks if recent reports are to be believed over the future of James Tarkowski. The defender is a free agent after his contract with Burnley expired at the end of the 2021/22 Premier League season, and it seems very likely that he will be staying in the top division with a move to another side.
Getting him in over the course of the next few weeks could be an important move. Bring him to the club to begin pre-season and already you can start to plan ahead for the coming campaign with a little more knowledge over what is to come.
But, transfer windows are ultimately unpredictable. It's unrealistic to think that you can get all of your business done right at the start of this period, even if it would potentially prove to be a beneficial move.
Priorities change for both individuals and clubs as a whole. Perhaps a transfer taking place elsewhere in the league or across Europe could cause an Everton player to leave the club, eventually leading the Blues to replace them in the squad.
Perhaps a certain transfer could take longer than expected thanks to the amount of negotiations that so often come with these modern-day moves, between clubs and the player's representatives. Maybe a pre-season injury could force Everton's hand into reshuffling their pack and looking at the market for other options.
Frank Lampard and Kevin Thelwell have already held a meeting regarding the transfer window and which direction the club should move, which will be very interesting to take note of in the coming weeks. It's likely they would have had similar talks in the latter stages of the campaign too, but the manager won't have been lying when asked about that in press conferences at the time.
The boss reiterated on multiple occasions that he was only focused on the task at hand, keeping the club in the Premier League. Planning ahead for the future would no doubt have been important, but realistically the club were limited in how much early business they could potentially undertake without knowing for sure which division they would be competing in next season.
It was only after the penultimate game of the campaign that Everton would have been able to pivot their full attention to planning for another top-division campaign, and that was not a long time ago at all. While there's an obvious desire for the Blues to get their transfer business done early, how possible that might be is still very much up in the air.
And, you have to remember, that's largely been the case for the last few years as well.
