Everton must focus on two positions if transfer plans are slimmed

Everton have been forced into a rethink of their transfer plans because of the crisis

Everton must focus on two positions and these players if transfer plans are slimmed down

It will be a different summer at Everton to the one that was being worked on before football was gripped by a pandemic.

And that's assuming the transfer window will even re-open in the summer.

The truth, right now, is that nobody knows when the market will be back in business but what the Blues, and every other club in the Premier League, are bracing themselves for, is that it will have changed.

Significantly.

As Carlo Ancelotti said, in the early days of the lockdown, there will be a "general contraction" of the football economy, hitting, among other things, the transfer market hard.

Everton have been forced into a rethink because of the financial uncertainty that lurks in the future as the Premier League comes to terms with playing behind closed doors and the threat of big chunks of the lucrative TV deals having to be paid back.

Manchester United, who reported rising debts last week, are budgeting to return £20m, just from the disruption caused to broadcasters this season. Everton have yet to put a figure on what the coronavirus crisis will cost the club this season, but it will be fair old chunk of money, put it that way.

All clubs will feel the pinch and, accordingly, the Blues believe the market, whenever it opens, could be dominated by loans and swaps.

Some money will be spent but nothing like on the scale we have become accustomed to. Negotiations that had already taken place will need to start all over again as a new financial reality hits home.

And so where Everton's board, director of football Marcel Brands and manager Carlo Ancelotti will look at the Blues' squad and see several areas in which it needs improving, the noises coming out of Goodison right now are that they will have to prioritise certain signings.

Quality over quantity, will be the idea.

And that includes, for example, preferring to sign a top target on loan, for a season, rather than buying a player who features further down on their list.

So what are Everton's priority areas?

It's got to be the spine of the team and if the Blues are, to say, focus their efforts - initially at least - on getting two players into the squad for next season then it has to be at centre-half and in central-midfield.

At right-back, the club have options.

Whichever way you spin the Coleman-Kenny-Sidibe wheel, then there is an answer. Who's to say next season may not just see a repeat of this, with Kenny back at Schalke on loan and Sidibe doing the same from AS Monaco?

On the right-hand side, the squad is light but between Theo Walcott, Bernard, Alex Iwobi and Anthony Gordon, Ancelotti may accept, that in current circumstances, he has enough talent and ability to make it work.

Richarlison can play out there too, if required.

Upfront, Everton have 23 goals between Dominic Calvert-Lewin and the Brazilian in the league so far this season and the expectation is that next term they will score more.

So too, Moise Kean. Next season is one where he can begin to show what he can do and Ancelotti can give him more opportunities.

At centre-back, Mason Holgate, Yerry Mina and Michael Keane have managed to largely stay injury-free for most of the season but having only three senior players in that position has left Everton walking a tightrope.

Gabriel Magalhaes, the left-footed Lille centre-back, is the one the Blues want but the groundwork Everton had done on his potential move has to be revisited.

The Ligue 1 club valued the Brazilian at around £30m. His valuation no longer holds given what has happened in the world since those talks began.

How much Everton are able -and willing - to spend, and how much Lille are prepared to compromise, will be fascinating but signing a player in that position, who fits that profile, has to be a priority.

So too in the middle of the park. Everton have strength in numbers but can't say they have strength in depth. But this is where it gets tricky for Brands and co.

Everton's plans had hinged on being able to sell a clutch of unwanted players, many of whom command healthy salaries - some of whom no doubt play in central midfield - and reinvesting the funds.

Morgan Schneiderlin and Mo Besic, for example, are likely to be among those the club will be looking to move on but selling them has become even more difficult as every club tightens the purse strings.

Everton know that there will be a need to think creatively in order to make the best of a difficult situation. Jean-Philippe Gbamin will, hopefully, be fit soon but he will require time to get up to speed and Ancelotti has made it clear he wants to add someone with "energy" in that position.

Most Evertonians would agree with him, too.

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The transfer window, whenever it opens, promises to be a logistical, financial and creative headache for the Blues' power-brokers, especially if, as expected, they will have to prioritise which targets they chase.