Marco Silva is a manager of contradictions. He is a novice of seven years who has just been appointed to his sixth club. He never played outside of Portugal, yet has already coached in three countries. He ended Porto’s 93-game unbeaten home league run and earned Olympiakos their first win on English soil, yet has won just four of 22 Premier League away games. He has as many promotions as relegations to his name, and was a director of football before he became a manager.

Perhaps Everton are banking on that brief chapter of his past to pave the way for a prosperous future. Marcel Brands pointedly mentioned the importance of “attractive, attacking football” last week, but the key was always to find a manager who wanted “to work in the structure we have”. Too much time and money has been wasted to do anything else.

Not that Silva arrives as a guarantee of success. In practice, he has hardly thrived on these shores. But in theory, he is the ideal manager for a club with ambition. He transformed Estoril from relegation-threatened Portuguese second-tier club to Europa League side in under three seasons, guided Sporting Lisbon to their first trophy in seven years, and won the Greek Superleague by 30 points in his only season at Olympiakos. He is a 40-year-old with the experience of a 60-year-old and the insatiable drive of a 20-year-old.

Everton will hope to harness the whirlwind. Silva’s four most recent reigns have lasted an average of 277 days; this is his third Premier League club in 18 months. He has managed just 42 games in the competition, losing far more (21) than he has won (13), yet is only the third non-British or Irish manager to ever take charge of three English top-flight clubs.

But it is the concept of Silva, not necessarily the credentials, that has long attracted Everton. He has the same proclivity for ambitious football as Roberto Martinez, but with more tactical awareness and fewer delusions of grandeur. He has the same aura as Koeman, but with no sense that Everton are being used as a stepping stone. He inherits the same squad as Allardyce, but with a greater grasp of how to utilise it.

“I don’t want, and the club doesn’t need, to sign a big number of players,” he said last week. “It’s not what we need to do, we need to sort out the number of players first and then be assertive and attack the market. We have 38 players in our squad at this moment.”

Too many cooks truly do spoil the broth. Everton’s managerial lurches have left a troubled kitchen, each chef arriving with different ideas and ingredients. It is rarely a recipe for success.

Silva is unique in Premier League managers this summer. While the rest of his peers will be planning for new signings, he must first oversee an Everton exodus. Before he can even contemplate incomings, wheat must be separated from considerable chaff.

This is a squad bloated by mismanagement and misguided investment, one of the most unbalanced in the top flight. Including returning loanees, there are five No 10s to four strikers, and only one senior left-back. Everton have the bones of a squad, but require transplants, transfusions and an entirely new spine.

Silva has outlined his desire to have “competition” – “two players for each position” – and so he has a matter of weeks to ruthlessly cull his squad, decide whether Tom Davies, Ademola Lookman, Kieran Dowell and other youngsters warrant opportunities, and work with Brands to identify and deliver new signings. In a World Cup year, with the transfer window closing early, and with expectations high, it is a delicate balance to strike.

In many ways, Silva is the perfect man for the job. But he has not lasted more than a single season at any one club since leaving his first. Everton have chosen a short-term manager on a medium-term deal to kickstart their long-term project. It will be the most interesting Premier League storyline of the summer.

Matt Stead