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Sometimes less is more.

Just five short years ago, Everton’s transfer strategy was meticulous, measured, if anything over-cautious.

David Moyes was unfairly labelled “Dithering Davy” for wanting to explore every facet of a footballer’s character before investing Everton money on him.

But his caution was understandable. Everton were continually ‘cash-strapped’ and the number of transfer failures he presided over in 11 years as Blues boss could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

Everton are now cash rich.

Yet last summer Everton signed THREE number 10s but no left-back.

They sold one established Premier League centre-forward and bought two inside forwards new to English football, one of whom couldn’t get a work permit so was loaned to Anderlecht.

Everton had a new transfer model in place, and presumably the manager and the Director of Football had different views on Davy Klaassen, Wayne Rooney and Gylfi Sigurdsson - and believed Leighton Baines was capable of playing Premier League, Europa League and Carabao Cup football without getting injured - at 33 years of age.

Of the eight senior players signed in the summer, and further three in January, only one - Jordan Pickford - has been an unqualified success, with two more, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Theo Walcott, showing flashes of promise.

As a result Everton’s entire transfer strategy - and the role of Director of Football - has come under scrutiny from the powers that be at Goodison.

Steve Walsh is under pressure, with PSV’s sporting director Marcel Brands and Roma’s Monchi being spoken of in the corridors of power.

And that scrutiny is understandable.

Everton do things very differently now. And the change hasn’t been for the better.

Michael Calvin’s award winning analysis of the world of football scouts “The Nowhere Men” detailed how David Moyes scouted players.

He wrote: “The secret room is unprepossessing, long and thin. It has the feel of a teacher’s study at a busy comprehensive. It is a mine of information, a tantalising glimpse of what might be, expressed in marker pens of different hues.

“The whiteboards on the walls have a logical sequence. To understand where Everton are in the recruitment process they must be read from left to right.

“The first board features the most promising new players highlighted by the system.

“They are the pick of the 1,000 players or so under review, and are deemed realistic recruits. Annotated beneath individual positions, they span Europe and South America. Trends are highlighted: right backs, for instance, are in extremely short supply.

“The next whiteboard contains live targets, who are monitored constantly. Their ages are written in red, on a yellow square. Those names in blue are potential free transfers, coming to the end of their contracts.

“Those in green are potential loanees. Those in red carry a price. There is an additional section, in the bottom left hand corner, featuring three goalkeepers, who are seen as emergency loanees, if required.”

If such a system had existed now would Everton really have found themselves in a situation where they were left with, as Kevin Ratcliffe so memorably quipped: “a right-back playing left-back who can’t play right-back” for half a season?

(Image: Jonathan Brady/PA Wire)

Would Everton really have claimed there were no left-backs available anywhere in Europe to buy in January?

Michael Calvin went on: “The next whiteboard is a statement of faith in those closest to Moyes. It features favoured Premier League players, personal choices who are not on any other list. They must be 26 and under, playing for a club outside the top six, and be regarded as realistic potential recruits.

“They have been voted for by Moyes and his senior staff. Four players, out of 20 or so featured, are unanimous selections. That gives everyone food for thought.

“Time moves with terrifying speed in football: the next wall condenses the next three seasons into the five seconds are so it takes to scan a succession of teams, in Everton’s favoured formation.

“This is why the secret room is off-limits to players. It is, in essence, a Moyes mind map. The whiteboard contains a list of all first team squad players with their ages, contract details, and appearance records.

“It starts with Moyes’ idea of his best current starting XI and what it will be, up until 2014.

“This offers an insight into which regulars he suspects will fade way and who he he hopes will emerge from the supporting cast. It is an imprecise science, because of the unpredictability of fate, but the gaps, when they appear, are ominous. This is a visual tool for the black art of management, moving a player on when his use has been exhausted, but his resale potential is still significant.

“The next whiteboard is smaller and contained no player over the age of 23. The most promising Championship, League One and League Two players are highlighted in blue, red and green respectively.

“The last major whiteboard, the transfer window list, is, in many ways, the most important. This contains the names of players Everton are actively seeking to sign.”

It all sounds so ordered, so precise, so strategic - because it was - unlike the apparent trolley dash Everton embarked upon last summer.

That phrase “Moyes’ idea of his best current starting XI” is completely at odds with this season, when Everton have named an unchanged team once - in Sam Allardyce’s first match as manager.

More and more stories are emerging of Steve Walsh’s position coming under scrutiny at Everton.

It’s easy to see why.