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It's felt like a quiet week at Goodison Park, especially given the seven days which preceded it.

But Everton's summer is well and truly up and running. The transfer window may not open until next Saturday, but the Blues are already in business.

Optimism is in the air, and how good does that feel to say?

The magic trio are getting their teeth into the task ahead. Ronald Koeman and Steve Walsh are working in tandem to identify the right players, Farhad Moshiri is writing the cheques that will get the deals over the line.

So far, so good.

And yet the feeling is that the best may still be to come. More than two months remain until the window closes; Everton will be as busy as any club until then.

What have they done already?

Address a key issue

It didn't take a genius to work out one of Everton's big issues last season.

Maarten Stekelenburg and Joel Robles are competent goalkeepers, but neither is good enough to be No.1 at a side chasing a top-six finish.

Whether Jordan Pickford is remains to be seen, but it is reassuring that Everton were willing to go out and spend big in order to try and fix the issue.

The fee, which could rise to £30m, raised a few eyebrows, but the 23-year-old is a signing for the now as well as the future. Not just an upgrade, a problem-solver as well.

(Image: Everton FC/Everton FC via Getty Images)

Listen to the boss

It became his version of “phenomenal” as the season ended.

Not a press conference passed without Ronald Koeman mentioning “productivity” - or, more accurately, the need for Everton to improve theirs.

Romelu Lukaku's 26 goals last season are to be applauded, but they masked an issue. Behind that, no player scored more than six.

Ross Barkley and Kevin Mirallas disappointed, Yannick Bolasie suffered cruelly with injury, Gerard Deulofeu was farmed out on loan, while Ademola Lookman and Dominic Calvert-Lewin are just starting out. Neither can be expected to carry the burden in terms of goals and assists just yet.

No surprise, then, that Koeman drove through the signing of Davy Klaassen. Everton spent €27m to land the Ajax captain, who brings with him quality and experience, plus that crucial commodity of goals from midfield – 49 in 163 first-team appearances in Amsterdam.

(Image: Everton FC)

Start the clearout

There were few surprises when Everton's 'released and retained' list was published in early June.

Arouna Kone was Roberto Martinez's first signing as Blues manager, but rarely looked anything other than an error.

He left, along with Conor McAleny, once a promising talent but now a 24-year-old in need of a fresh start. Other youngsters, including Russell Griffiths, Tyrone Duffus and Delial Brewster, have also moved on.

Tom Cleverley will join Watford on July 1, with Everton having agreed a not-too-shabby fee back in March.

What's left to do?

Fix the leaks

Right, so the goalkeeper is in place; what about the centre of defence?

Koeman went some way to fixing Everton's defensive issues in his first season in charge. They conceded 44 goals, fewer than in each of the previous two campaigns.

Personnel-wise, though, it is obvious that at least one new centre back is required, and probably two. Ramiro Funes Mori cannot be first choice, while both Ashley Williams and Phil Jagielka are the wrong side of 30. Mason Holgate should emerge as centre-half option for the future, but is unproven there for now.

Michael Keane of Burnley is the top target, and like Pickford would represent the right kind of purchase; young, talented, hungry and with Premier League pedigree. Everton could probably do with another, too.

Deal with the elephants in the room

The silence has been deafening. Ross Barkley's future was expected to be sorted by now, one way or another.

The England international will enter than final 12 months of his deal next month, but still there is no sign of a new one. Or of a transfer away.

Spurs' interest, it seems, has cooled, and not too many other big clubs are sticking their hat into the ring. Everton have signed Klaassen to play in Barkley's position, and remain keen on Gylfi Sigurdsson too. At present, the local lad looks like he's painted himself into a corner.

Meanwhile, the Romelu Lukaku saga rumbles on. Barely a week passes without some kind of story linking him with Chelsea, Manchester United, Bayern Munich. No suggestion yet, however, that anyone is willing to get close to Everton's £100m valuation for the striker.

Lukaku's situation is rather less urgent than Barkley's, given he still has two years on his current deal, but Everton could do with resolving both sooner rather than later. They've seen in the past, with Joleon Lescott and Mikel Arteta for example, the disruption that can come with letting things like this run into the season.

Complete the clearout

The exits of Kone and Cleverley were expected, and we should anticipate a few more as well before the summer is out.

Deulofeu will leave, whether to Barcelona or elsewhere, while Oumar Niasse, Luke Garbutt, Aiden McGeady and Shani Tarashaj are on borrowed time.

Stekelenburg, James McCarthy and Mo Besic would surely be allowed to leave if the right offer came in, and what of Brendan Galloway, whose loan spell at West Brom was little short of a nightmare?

Then there are the youngsters, too. Loan or keep? Lookman and Calvert-Lewin will remain, of course, and Jonjoe Kenny should be part of the first team squad. Kieran Dowell probably needs to play some regular football though, while Liam Walsh and Joe Williams are approaching a crossroads, as is the fit-again Tyias Browning.

(Image: Jason Roberts)

Add some depth

With a Europa League campaign to juggle along with domestic commitments, Everton will certainly need at least two players for every position.

That will likely mean signing a left back to cover Leighton Baines, for example, while at least one winger will be needed.

Sandro Ramirez will add to the forward options when his signing is finally confirmed, but at least one more striker is needed, and more if Lukaku leaves.

Midfield looks well stocked now, although the Blues may need a stopgap signing at right back until Seamus Coleman is back fit.

Keep showing ambition

The most pleasing aspect of the summer as far as Evertonians are concerned is that it feels like the club has a plan, that it has purpose, that it has ambition.

Pickford is a club record signing, and Klaassen cost well over £20m. Sigurdsson, were he to join, could cost more than both. Keane and, say, Andre Gray would be significant outlays too.

It's not all about money – Sandro would be a snip at just over £5m, for example – but about being aggressive in the market, going after players who will improve the team and the squad, and not being afraid to ask the question.

Everton have done that so far, long may it continue.