Marco Silva hopes to have his full squad in place by the end of the month – new signings included.
But the Everton boss admits the priority is to land all of the club's remaining transfer targets before the August 8 deadline.
Silva will welcome Yerry Mina and Dominic Calvert-Lewin back to training at the start of next week before Richarlison returns on July 28.
Idrissa Gueye plays in the Africa Cup of Nations final later today and Silva will discuss the midfielder's return date after the tournament has finished.
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And the Blues boss is aiming to have every member of his squad, as well as the remaining targets, at Finch Farm following the return from Germany where the team play in the Opel Cup.
Silva wants as long as possible to prepare for the opening Premier League fixture of the season at Crystal Palace after a summer of staggered player returns.
“Really I would like to have our full squad before the end of July, at least for me to have 10 days to prepare the first Premier League match,” Silva told the ECHO.
“That will be the best for me and would really like but you never know, last season we signed two players on the last day and I took the decision about Zouma in that moment because we were almost signing one central defender but we couldn't and so I decided to go to Zouma because I knew him well from Chelsea and Stoke.
“But I would like, by the end of July, to have all of the squad to work with but if not then the important thing is for us to achieve the players we want and get the players here.”
Everton face AS Monaco today in their third pre-season friendly of the summer.
