Roberto Martínez has said Everton’s underwhelming campaign will not deter potential summer signings, with the Manchester United midfielder Tom Cleverley expected to be among his prime targets.

The Everton manager insists he is under no pressure to sell any prized assets at the end of the season and wants to add “two or three players” to ensure there is no repeat of this term’s struggles.

Unlike last summer, when Romelu Lukaku opted to leave Chelsea for Goodison Park and Gareth Barry arrived on a three-year contract, Everton will not have European football to attract new players and have only recently eased relegation concerns with three consecutive league wins.

Despite the backward step, Martínez remains convinced the club can compete for his leading targets. He claims Everton’s style of play has maintained their appeal even amid 12 Premier League defeats.

The Everton manager said: “Within football losing or winning doesn’t affect players; it’s how you lose and I think every player who’s faced Everton this season will have come out with a real respect and a real appreciation of the way we play as a club.

“We don’t rely on 10 months of results, we’ve got a bigger picture of what we’re trying to achieve and what we’ve got in the squad, particularly in terms of the younger players who have been given incredible roles. I think the perception of Everton has improved in the last 12 months. What we achieved in Europe has allowed that to happen. I see reports in Spain, France and other countries and the perception of us has improved in Europe.”

Cleverley, who Martínez tried to sign from United last summer before he joined Aston Villa on loan, is again under consideration with the 25-year-old likely to receive several lucrative offers when he becomes a free agent at the end of this season.

One report recently claimed Cleverley has already decided on a move to Goodison but Martínez said: “No, that’s not true. Tom is a player I know really well. We know the positions that we need to strengthen in the summer. We’ve worked really hard since January to identify those targets but a lot of decisions will depend on how we perform in the last seven games. It’s going to be a very important end of season for us in order to allow us to make the right decisions for the summer.

“We have a group of players here who are focused on becoming successful with Everton so there are no problems keeping them. My focus is to make sure we bring in two or three players to step up a level and become stronger.”

The unfortunate Darron Gibson will miss the rest of the season with a fractured metatarsal having only recently returned from a long-term cruciate injury.