Everton manager Rafa Benitez has hinted that Everton could still have some late transfer business to conduct before the summer window closes.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference to preview the home match against Southampton on Saturday – his first competitive fixture in charge of Everton – when asked if he had the squad he wanted, Benitez said: “I’m sure if you asked the majority of managers, all of them they want to improve, they want to strengthen the squad.
“What I said before, it’s still early, we have to wait a little bit until the end of the transfer window but I’m happy with the way the players are training, with the way that we are working and hopefully we can replicate that on the pitch in an official match.”
Although there have been several big transfers completing in the Premier League in recent weeks with champions Manchester City signing Jack Grealish for £100million and former Everton striker Romelu Lukaku returning to Chelsea for £97.5million, the Blues’ spending has been restricted by having to adhere to Financial Fair Play with less than £2million spent so far on Demarai Gray, Andros Townsend and Asmir Begovic (the latter two arriving on frees).
Asked what he thought of the restrictions, Benitez said: “The reality is that a lot of clubs are spending some money and you have to manage that.
“The Financial Fair Play rules are there, we have to follow them and we try to do it.
“It’s something that we have to consider every time. It’s like it is and we have to bring the best from our players and still we’re thinking about strengthening the squad.”
