Everton's new signings have offered real hope after hitting the ground running - but also highlighted a pressing problem for the club.
While a completely new-look midfield brought rightful acclaim at Spurs on the opening weekend, it also emphasised the number of players now surplus to requirements who the Blues want to place in the shop window.
In fact, Director of Football Marcel Brands could realistically listen to offers for an entire shadow XI, as years of scatter-gun spending has caught up with the Merseyside club.
Some of those players will go into the shop window on Wednesday as manager Carlo Ancelotti looks to give his squad a run out against Salford.
Sandro Ramirez, Yannick Bolasie and Mo Besic have all returned from loans last season and will be offloaded should there be any interest,w hich is not guaranteed.
The same applies to defender Matthew Pennington, while Beni Baningime could be loaned out to gain more first team experience.
But it is a more established list of first team names which will arouse interest before the transfer window closes in October, with the club perhaps ready to listen to offers if the price is right, as they look to trim the squad to a more manageable level.
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Cenk Tosun is still injured and may be difficult to shift, but Ancelotti will sell if he can. The likes of Theo Walcott, Gylfi Sigurdsson, and Bernard are likely to be squad players on big wages this season, and so could be shifted for any decent fee.
But it is recent signings Moise Keane and Alex Iwobi who will arouse most controversy, after being signed by Brands only a year ago, in a big spending spree last summer.
Neither has established himself and both could command decent fees, which would help balance the books after spending on James Rodriguez, Allan and Abdoulaye Dacoure this time around.
Such a move would be a tacit admission last summer’s spending hasn’t work, but the club may decide to cut their losses and clear up space in the squad, with interest in loan signings.
Everton have been in discussions over a loan deal for Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori and still hope to conclude a deal, while they have also been linked with Napoli’s Hirving Lozano.
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