Marcel Brands is to leave his role as Everton's director of football after three-and-a-half-years at the club.
The Dutchman signed a new three-year-deal in April but Brands is a casualty of the Blues' poor run of form which leaves them just above the relegation zone.
Brands was confronted by an angry supporter following the defeat to Liverpool in midweek, which extended the team's winless run to eight matches, who pointed at the players and asked the 59-year-old: "Did you recruit them?!"
Brands replied: "Is it only the players?".
Rafa Benitez has inherited a squad which has players signed under six other managers and while Brands was not responsible for a number of those signings, he has been relieved of his duties.
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Brands arrived at the club in 2018 and has had mixed results in the transfer market with around £300m spent on signings during his tenure.
While Brands can point to the success of players, including Lucas Digne, whom he signed from Barcelona for £18m, his critics point to signings such as £25m Jean-Philippe Gbamin.
But Benitez is the third permanent manager the Dutchman had worked with during his time at Goodison, after Marco Silva and Carlo Ancelotti.
