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Everton face a "big task" to trim their bloated squad this summer.

The Blues will once again attempt to offload a large number of unwanted players during the transfer window with the club's wage bill reaching £145m in the last set of accounts.

Everton sold Ramiro Funes Mori, Wayne Rooney and Davy Klaassen last year, while Joel Robles left on a free, but most fringe players were sent on loan.

Director of football Marcel Brands is charged reducing the club's wage bill further and with Marco Silva set on a squad of around 22 outfield players, three goalkeepers and a couple of Academy graduates, another mass exodus is required.

An end-of-season meeting between Farhad Moshiri, Bill Kenwright, Brands and Silva took place on May 8 where transfer plans were discussed at length.

And as well a targeting at least six new faces, Everton know they must offload many more in order to address their pressing squad issues but Silva admits the job at hand is tough.

Asked about the size of his transfer kitty this summer, Silva said: “My job is to put the names on the table and say 'I like this player' and if these guys will be right for us or not because this is my model.

“As a manager and a coach I have to be aware of everything because I cannot ask for a player if it is impossible in our budget.

“It is not my job to deal with the situation but I have to be aware of everything.

“Of course, like you know, we have a big number of players with contracts with us and we have to deal with this situation and it will be a big task again this summer, a big task for Marcel to deal with this situation.

“Some of the players have contracts with us but my role is tell the club the players I want – I want Zouma and Andre and this and that.”