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RB Leipzig, with the odd exception, don't buy players over the age of 24.

It's club policy.

Athletic Bilbao, almost without exception, don't sign anyone unless they were born in the Basque country or who had their formative footballing years in the region.

Until they had to break their own rules for Harry Kane, Spurs refused to bend on their self-imposed wage cap.

(Image: ROBERT MICHAEL/AFP/Getty Images)

In some ways it's radical. It limits the pool from which those clubs can look for players but it hasn't stopped them having success.

Particularly in the case of Bilbao, who have not had to sacrifice their identity to do well on the pitch, even if it's slim pickings in Spain with the stranglehold of the big two.

Leipzig are ruffling feathers in the Bundesliga with the pace of their growth and Spurs start each season as genuine title contenders.

It help sets them apart and rather than trying to copy the methods of the established powers in their countries, albeit on significantly lower budgets, these teams – particularly Leipzig and Bilbao - have gone about trying to challenge them in a different way.

You have to wonder if this is a course of action Everton need to give serious thought to?

(Image: JORGE GUERRERO/AFP/Getty Images)

In this search for an identity, what currently makes the Blues stand out from the crowd?

Yet in the uncompromising world of the Premier League, where there are huge amounts at stake, it could be playing with fire to only buy players under the age of 24, those born within a certain region or even to restrict what you are willing to pay players.

Romantic? Sure. Realistic? Many would argue not. Far too risky, they would understandably say.

But surely what it all boils down to – and whatever your policy - are two things: the strength of your recruitment department and the ability of your coaches.

Everton weren't happy with either of those and so last month wielded the axe on director of football Steve Walsh and manager Sam Allardyce.

The arrival of Marcel Brands and Marco Silva promises both smarter, better value for money recruitment, and modern, progressive and intensive coaching.

(Image: Andrew Teebay)

So if the new Dutch-Portuguese axis at the top of the club is as talented as we all hope, is it that fanciful that Everton could restore their identity by being as radical as Leipzig or Bilbao?

There has been talk that those behind the scenes at Goodison that they want Everton to be the Atletico Madrid of England – shrewd in the transfer market, playing in a way that fans can get behind, un-fancied, unfashionable even, but undeniably effective.

Diego Simeone has cultivated something quite remarkable in the Spanish capital and the sense is that many Evertonians wouldn't be adverse to such methods at Goodison but what everyone agrees on is the need for an identity of some description.