The 2024/25 campaign is heading toward the final stretch, and Everton look all but safe to enter Bramley Moore on the fertile soil of the Premier League.
In fact, with David Moyes at the helm, there are budding hopes that the Toffees could be set for a period of prosperity, perhaps challenging for a place at the upper end of the table.
Everton manager David Moyes before Brighton match
Of course, the Blues will need to get it right in the transfer market, and with so much change up the hierarchical ladder, there is an element of uncertainty, though optimism is back and rightly so.
Director of Football Kevin Thelwell will leave in the summer, and in his place Leeds United's Angus Kinnear will assume transfer seniority in The Friedkin Group's system. He'll have plenty to get busy with.
Where Everton will strengthen this summer
Everton had fallen into a state of entropy under the dysfunctional rule of Farhad Moshiri, but there is truly hope things are changing now that a new order is in place.
Players are going to need to leave.
Calvert-Lewin-Everton
Dominic Calvert-Lewin, for example, is approaching the end of his contract and has only scored three times this season. With Beto superseding him at number nine, it feels the right time for the 27-year-old to move on.
Ex-Goodison scout Bryan King has also suggested Abdoulaye Doucoure is going to leave this summer on a free transfer despite the option of a one-year extension.
Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure
Moreover, Jack Harrison and Jesper Lindstrom are both loanees on the right flank and neither have set the world on fire this term, albeit improving since Moyes replaced Sean Dyche.
These, it seems, are the key areas of concern for the summer. Though you'd think centre-forward will receive the most dramatic attention.
Moyes has spoken since arriving of his desire to bring Everton back to prominence in the Premier League. There might even be tentative and rudimentary plans mapped out to find a pathway toward Europe.
To do that, Everton may want to aim big in the transfer market.
TFG eyeing audacious signing for Everton
As per GIVEMESPORT, Everton have been put on alert after Juventus reduced Dusan Vlahovic's £35m asking price to £25m and are now 'considering' a move for the powerful striker.
While this might feel like a name beyond the Toffees' reach, progress under Moyes and the Serbian's own issues at Juventus make it very possible indeed.
Dusan Vlahovic goal tallies
With Calvert-Lewin's set to depart - incidentally, he's wanted by the Old Lady - and Armando Broja's loan move unlikely to become permanent after an injury-wrecked campaign, there really could be something in this one.
What Dusan Vlahovic would bring to Everton
Juventus actually signed Vlahovic from Fiorentina for a huge £67m fee back in January 2022 after his stunning start to life in Italy at Fiorentina.
Strangely, you could say he's never quite hit the same heights as that balmy start with La Viola, and the Scudetto still eludes him.
Dusan Vlahovic in Serie A (past 5 seasons)
Season
24/25
23/24
22/23
21/22
21/22
20/21
Stats via Transfermarkt
Though Vlahovic has been perceived to have struggled this season, it's curious that he's still outscored all of Everton's forwards on league ground, with his reputation attracting criticism like a glaring firefly glow.
Indeed, he was hailed as a "world-class player" by Bologna head coach Vincenzo Italiano only in December.
The prolific international, who has 13 goals from 32 Serbia caps, still ranks among the top 12% of players in Serie A this season for goals scored, the same again for shots taken and the top 15% for touches in the attacking penalty area per 90, as recorded by FBref.
Such poaching prowess has even led the data-driven site to pin Moise Kean as one of his most comparable players across Europe, with the former Toffee riding the crest of a wave in Italy with, incidentally, Fiorentina.
Juventus' Dusan Vlahovic in action with Empoli's Liberato Cacace
We already witnessed Moyes' tactical nous when it comes to powerful and athletic strikers from Italy; Beto has been reborn since the Scotsman made his fated return to Goodison.
Now, he could repeat the trick with Vlahovic, especially since he's profiled similarly to Kean, who has scored 19 goals from 32 matches in all competitions this term.
Maybe one of the biggest disappointments of the Moshiri era, Kean joined Everton form Juventus in a £25m deal in 2019. He was just a teenager, and the Blues' problems precluded his success as he scored only two goals from 32 matches in the Premier League.
Though Everton's success in selling him back to Juve for a similar £25m ballpark fee took the edge off the blunder, it's somewhat frustrating to watch the Italy international now perform so admirably for Fiorentina.
All this said, he was still regarded as a top talent when Everton came calling and his profile was billed as perfect for Premier League football. You'd think Vlahovic, more refined and complete at 25 than Kean was, stands a good chance of hitting the mark when considering this.
Juventus' Dusan Vlahovic shoots
Signing a forward cut from the same tactical cloth as Kean, who failed to make it work at Everton, would be a neat offshoot from this building tale. Moyes has the capacity to revive Vlahovic, turn him into a top-class Premier League star.
There will be a range of daunting competition for his signature, but Everton have the tools to become an attractive club for such players once again, and this is the kind of deal that could help Moyes replicate the European success he forged at West Ham United.
Ndiaye-Everton Related
[He earns more than Ndiaye: Everton must axe Thelwell's "disaster" signing](https://www.footballfancast.com/thelwells-worst-deal-everton-must-regret-signing-maupay/ "He earns more than Ndiaye: Everton must axe Thelwell's "disaster" signing")
The Everton board surely can't wait to see the back of this miserable signing.