In recent times the prospect of a top, influential player being plucked from Everton’s grasp would have sent panic surging through it’s embattled fan base. The gauntlet of the Summer transfer window was an annual event the Evertonians dreaded; counting down the days, hours and minutes until the window slammed shut and their most coveted stars were out of reach of the so called big boys for another year at least.

With the impending loss of star striker Romelu Lukaku, a £75m target of Manchester United, you would be forgiven for thinking that not much had changed around Goodison Park.

However you’d be quite wrong.

The usual panic, frustration and anger that such a departure would impart has been replaced with a sense of anticipation among the Toffees fan base. An excitement that makes the whole saga feel like the start of a fresh new era rather than the inevitable demise of one.

To some it almost feels necessary. The natural progression for a club who are aiming high and looking to build a far more dynamic, fluid team.

Although no one can deny his goal scoring exploits for the Blues there has always been a simmering tension between the Belgium forward and the passionate patrons of the Gwladys Street. Bordering at times on a love hate relationship you always got the impression the fans were never totally enamored with their goal scoring talisman. He was never really one of them.

In many ways it was a relationship of convenience for both parties. Each benefiting from the arrangement but always aware that in order to move forward there would need to be a parting of ways at some stage.

In the past that would have left Everton scrambling about looking for cut price replacements or journeyman loan deals as the incoming windfall was gobbled up by the banks. Wheeling and dealing in order to keep the lights on had become a way of life at Everton.

Not any longer. They are now the masters of their own destiny. Backed by Billionaire Farhard Moshiri the Merseysiders are operating on a level playing field for the first time in decades and they are determined to make the most of it. They now possess the financial firepower to mold their side as they see fit; no longer relying on the patchwork make-do strategy that was thrust upon them so often in the past.

With the financial shackles cast aside there is a real momentum gathering pace at Goodison Park. Dead wood has been shipped out and a new spine of the side is slowly taking shape. Jordan Pickford has been acquired from Sunderland. Michael Keane from Burnley. Ajax’s 24 year old captain Davy Klaassen has been added to the ranks and was swiftly followed by the 21 year old ex-Barcelona strike prodigy Sandro Ramirez.

Players like Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley, who just 18 months ago looked irreplaceable for the Blues are now merely dispensable assets. As good as they are if they are not fully on board with the project at hand then they will be replaced. It is a new found ruthlessness that may well be a new concept to many younger generation Blues; but one that harps back to the heady days of the Mersey Millionaires tag of the 60's.

That was an era when the club truly embraced it’s motto: Nil Satis Nisi Optimum. Nothing but the best is good enough.

There is a real sense that something very special is happening at Goodison Park right now. They may be about to reconnect with that motto in a way many Blues never thought they would see again. The departure of Lukaku is simply testament to that fact.

He is good. But he isn’t the best.

And maybe for this new emerging Everton, that just isn’t quite good enough.

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