COMMENT: So it'll come in a rush - if at all. Rafa Benitez laid it all bare after their opening day victory. If Everton are to strengthen before this market shuts, players are going to have to be shifted out...
But it's not budgets holding back Benitez. Nor an unwillingness to spend from his higher ups. It's simply Financial Fair Play and Everton's commitment to adhering to these demands. Farhad Moshiri, the club's prime backer, is prepared to release funds. Sporting director Marcel Brands has a long list of targets he's run by Benitez. It's all there. Waiting. But first Everton need to move out those the manager has decided he can do without.
"The reality is that we know that the rules for Financial Fair Play exist and we must follow them," explained Benitez after Everton's rousing come-from-behind victory over Southampton at a full Goodison Park. The Spaniard acknowledging the modest outlay which has brought Andros Townsend, Demarai Gray and Asmir Begovic to the club not what the Blues support had been expecting.
"I know how the situation is," Benitez continued, "and we will try to do our best with the players we have.
"If we can strengthen our squad, we will try to do so. Under these circumstances, we have to get rid of players - it's easy to understand."
Leading up to that question, Benitez had been clever, coy. He'd jumped around the margins when asked specifically about players needing to move on. And he did much the same here, except the words he used were more precise. The manager wants "rid" of this deadwood. Deadwood which is holding back what he has planned for this team he's inherited.
Again, wages aren't the issue. If FFP wasn't a factor, Moshiri would be prepared to see Benitez stick James Rodriguez and Moise Kean in the stands and back his new manager in the market. It wouldn't be ideal, but he would do it. Problem is, this isn't the issue. Evertonneed to find takers - not necessarily buyers - to get their wages off the books and make room for what Benitez has in mind.
Abdoulaye Doucoure celebrates scoring against Southampton
Neither Kean nor James made a very young bench for Everton on Saturday. And all signs are that neither player will be involved for the weekend fixture with Leeds United. Benitez has sent a clear message to both: the games will be few and far between if you stick around.
To be fair, both players have instructed their agents to find them new clubs. And there is interest in both. The sticking point is timing. This is going to run and run to deadline day. Like Everton, interested clubs need to find buyers for their fringe players before making their move. It's not ideal, but it's what the domestic FFP rules demand. Just consider Barcelona and their need to push out Leo Messi - and convince several senior players to accept wage cuts - before being cleared to register their summer signings Memphis Depay and Emerson Royal. All done just days out from last weekend's LaLiga kickoff.
As much as time is up against them, Everton do have the advantage of it being a World Cup year. Kean has publicly set himself a target of making Italy's squad for Qatar. For James, he doesn't want his career with Colombia to end with this summer's fitness debacle. Qatar 2022 is a carrot for both players - but they won't get there sitting in the stands at Goodison Park this season.
So things could yet get a kick-along. Those plans of Benitez and Brands could yet be enacted. A younger fullback to challenge Seamus Coleman. A midfielder to play alongside Allan. Another wide player to complement Andros Townsend and Demarai Gray - and to satisfy Dominic Calvert-Lewin, "To hear the new manager has come in to create more chances for me, it is music to my ears," said Everton's centre-forward after scoring against Saints.
And what the Spaniard is planning - in partnership with Brands - is youth. Sean Longstaff, of Newcastle United, has been mentioned, as has Burnley's fellow England U21 international winger Dwight McNeil. Not players with the profile to make national transfer headlines, but certainly with the potential to grow into news makers themselves.
But again, the clubs mentioned will want time to find replacements. And there'll be little of it to negotiate a fair price as the transfer clock close winds down. It's not ideal, but it's the parameters that Benitez and his board must work with.
If things are to fall Everton's way in the next fortnight, it's going to be hectic. Chaotic. But it'll get a start if Benitez can get those players he's wrote off shifted out.
