People said Everton had 'won the transfer window', but replacing the enormous Romelu Lukaku-shaped hole is not so simple

A summer after Bale went to Real Madrid Liverpool caved in to the inevitable and sold Luis Suarez to Barcelona. They went from finishing second, just two points behind City and so close to winning the title, to sixth, eight points outside the top four.

In fairness, Liverpool tried to get Alexis Sanchez in return, only for him to prefer Arsenal, but ended up buying eight players including Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert. Adam Lallana and Emre Can have been successes and, while Dejan Lovren and Alberto Moreno are still in the team, not many Liverpool supporters would regard them as irreplaceable.

Of course, players in the class of Bale and Suarez are incredibly difficult to find and even harder to sign. So Spurs and Liverpool and – now – Everton did the logical thing: they bought in bulk and convinced themselves they would strengthen their squads instead. But by doing so have their strengthened their teams?

Never mind the quality, feel the width, as the old saying goes. Lukaku was sold for £75million to United – with Wayne Rooney heading the other way – and in came eight players. The early consensus was that they had not just acted quickly and efficiently but had somehow ‘won the transfer window’.

There is no doubt that players such as Jordan Pickford and Michael Keane are rich in promise, although it is not unreasonable to ask which of their signings would have made it into any of the sides who finished ahead of Everton last season?

Rooney became the big-name signing, the one to add a bit of experience and star quality. But he was let go by United because he could not get into a team that only finished one place, and eight points, ahead of Koeman’s side and was replaced by Lukaku who was Everton’s best player and top-scorer. As with the departures of Bale and Suarez, Everton lost not just their star but a lot of goals from their team.

With Lukaku, Everton might have been serious Champions League contenders this season; without him it appears remote. So to not replace him appears a significant error. Everton chased targets – such as Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud – but did not appear to make it the priority it should have been.

And so Everton find themselves in the bottom three after five games. Obviously they will not stay there and will, surely, quickly climb the table. They have also been handed a tough run of fixtures, including away games at City, Chelsea and United and a home encounter against Spurs. It does not get much harder but from those they have taken just a point, scoring one goal and conceding 10.

When the Europa League defeat away to Atalanta – perhaps the most worrying performance so far – is factored in the sequence is even worse: their last four games have brought four defeats with 12 goals conceded and none scored.

It has led to Koeman pleading for people to be “realistic about Everton” after he rose to the bait following the 4-0 defeat away to United on Sunday, when Jose Mourinho deliberately referenced in his programme notes “a team that has spent £140million during the course of the transfer window” adding “so obviously we are playing against a team that wants at least to secure a top four position”.

Koeman was right to insist that Everton need time, although he may have raised a few eyebrows in the boardroom when he also predicted that another seventh-placed finish  – “the same as last season,” he said – was a far more realistic expectation. Maybe it is. But that is not what a Hollywood manager is there for. That is not in the script.

Now the true test of where they are at will begin with four home games in a row, including league matches against Bournemouth and Burnley before the international break. It gives Everton the opportunity to stabilise.

On the one hand, the manager is right. It will be incredibly difficult for them to finish any higher than seventh, although they do need to reduce that gap. The problem is they are trying to do so with a Lukaku-sized hole in their team. They lack a star on the pitch even if they believe they have one on the touchline.

British players needed for charity pledge

Three more leading European players are soon expected to be announced as having signed up to Juan Mata’s ‘Common Goal’ initiative which involves pledging one per cent of their earnings to charity. 

Mata was the first big name to commit followed by Mats Hummels and then the two American women players, Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe, with the aim of creating a “Common Goal Starting XI” and then eventually involving players, managers, clubs around the world. 

The donation is in addition to whatever other charitable work is carried out and is deliberately kept low at one per cent to make it more manageable. But despite Mata being one of the Premier League's stars - and England's top flight the richest league in the world - it is disappointing that Mata’s call has so far not led to a single British player agreeing to sign up. 

Who will be the first?