Everton have a minimal number of players who have returned for pre-season so far, including no goalkeepers.
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The majority of Everton's squad returned for pre-season this week, but not enough to field a full squad in the Premier League.
Seven first-team players are yet to return to Finch Farm, and at a squad as small as Everton's, that makes a huge difference.
Four of them - Jake O'Brien, Vitalii Mykolenko, Tom King, and Mark Travers - could return fairly soon, as they were likely given extra time off for going away on international duty at the start of June.
Nathan Patterson, Jordan Pickford, and Iliman Ndiaye participated at the World Cup, so it could be a few weeks before we see them back at the club.
This leaves Everton with a fairly small squad, and if they were to play a pre-season game today, could they field an XI of players you'd consider part of the first team that makes sense on paper? The answer is, well, no.
The chosen XI
So, if we're talking about senior, first-team players, this was the best XI I could come up with.
Travers, King, and Pickford were all (seemingly) absent from the opening day of pre-season, leaving Everton with no senior goalkeepers. If I'm picking someone to go in goal, however, i'd probably go with Jarrad Branthwaite for his height.
At the back, Everton could field a reasonable back four, but it would likely have to be James Garner at right-back. Adam Aznou could be an option at left-back too, but Branthwaite sits there in my hypothetical side.
A midfield two of Tim Iroegbunam and Hayden Hackney almost picks itself, with Harrison Armstrong and Merlin Rohl pushing them from the bench. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall lines up in the 10, with Charly Alcaraz an alternative option.
Dwight McNeil takes a place on the bench, with young winger duo Tyler Dibling and Tyrique George given an opportunity in the XI.
It's a toss-up between Thierno Barry or Beto up top.
That would leave Everton with a subs bench of the following:
Of course, if Everton were to play a friendly next week and none of the aforementioned absentees have returned to action, there would be plenty of call-ups from the Academy sides.
Either way, it really shows that Everton need to bring in reinforcements in certain areas. Right-back is an issue, we could certainly do with another winger, and left-back looks a little short if Aznou is going to be sent out on loan, which feels like a real possibility.