Team A - Marky, Olly, Fluxy, Hero, Tino

Plan to get Everton competing for the Top 4 next season

With Sam Allardyce remaining manager throughout the duration of this project, we felt we had to take into account the style of footballer often (unfairly) associated with Sam's style of play. We also had to recognise that mass squad building in the middle of the season would cause too much unrest among the squad, as this is not a fantasy game we felt we had to build slowly and separate our buying and selling between this January transfer window and the summer months.

We started by sorting out the defence. Everton's issues have been caused by not having a solid enough base, and to address this we agreed as a team to sell the following four players in January.

Leighton Baines - £9m TM Value - £70k p/w (£5.46m over 18 months) = £14.46m
Ashley Williams - £6.3m TM Value - £75k p/w (£5.85m over 18 months) = £12.15m
Phil Jagielka - £1.8m TM Value - £50k p/w (£3.9m over 18 months) = £5.7m
Oumar Niasse - £7.2m TM Value - £55k p/w (£4.29m over 18 months) = £11.49m
Total raised = £43.8m

Initial budget of £250m + the money raised from these four departures = £293.8m

Budget wise, players bought and sold in January would have their wages calculated over 18 months, and players bought and sold in the summer would have their wages calculated over 12 months, to keep it realistic and also to stretch the budget until the end of next season.

As a team we named five signings to make (in addition to the obvious additions of Theo Walcott and Cenk Tosun) that would improve our defence, and as well as settle in for next season, they would assist us in pushing for 7th place in the Premier League this season, our thought process being that if we get into the Europa League next season it would make it likelier we could sign the players we wanted to in the summer and also keep hold of the players we had signed in January. 7th place will guarantee us a Europa League spot as one of the sides already in the Top 6 will win the League Cup.

The five signings are;

1. Juan Bernat. A no brainer for us, as there are real life links to Bernat leaving Bayern and possibly moving to Everton, it made sense for us to get him in, not only would be play first team football in a World Cup year but he would also improve his wages in the process (currently on €65k per week). Bernat only has 18 months left on his contract so Bayern wouldn't command a monster fee either. No fees suggested, but with a TM value of £10.8m and wages of €65k per week, our bid of £15m and £100k per week we feel would entice both player and club. Over 18 months, the total outlay would be £22.8m. Remaining budget £271m.

2. Kamil Glik. We feel that with Monaco being out of Europe and out of the Champions League places in Ligue 1, that Glik would accept the opportunity to join our growing club. Aged 29, Glik would bring experience to our back line without being too old like the current crop of defenders are. Glik has a contract until 2020 so we would need to make it worth Monaco's while, but I feel a bid of £30m would be fair with wages of £120k per week enticing the Polish born defender to Merseyside. Total outlay would be close to £40m. Remaining budget £231m.

3. Alfie Mawson. With Jagielka and Williams leaving, we feel we need to bring in another centre back. Alfie Mawson has been doing good things with Swansea despite their lowly position in the Premier League. Much like Ashley Williams before him, Mawson would be able to leave Swansea to join a bigger side, offering chances of playing in Europe and also improving his salary. Swansea wouldn't be keen to sell, but money talks, and a bid of £25m would be too much for Swansea to turn down. Mawson is only on £25k per week so a £75k per week Everton contract trebling his money would definitely appeal to him. Total outlay £31m. Remaining budget £200m.

4. Stefano Sturaro. With Everton needing more in midfield, as well as the unfortunately timed injury to James McCarthy, we feel that Sturaro would be the ideal signing. He's been a great utility player for Juventus, but with appearances limited, we feel we can offer Sturaro a deal that not only gives him the first team football he desires, but a new challenge and a contract that would reward him handsomely. His latest contract worked out at €48k per week and lasts until 2021. Despite real life reports a couple of weeks ago where Juventus stated he wasn't for sale, new stories have emerged of Cagliari and Genoa attempting to sign him to give him the gametime he craves. We would offer Juventus almost double the £12.8m Southampton offered last summer, £25m. And we would offer the player double his money and a bit more, at £100k per week. The total outlay would be £33m, leaving our remaining budget at £167m.

5. David Neres. Neres would be a signing for next season, but with the added benefit of 6 months to get used to the Premier League before he is expected to deliver performances. Neres would give us the pace and trickery we need out wide and be a great asset to the side in the future. Neres only joined Ajax 12 months ago for £10.8m, so Ajax would have to be handsomely compensated. Reports are that Neres is not on more than £10k per week, so we feel an offer of £50k per week and (presuming we meet our target for the 2nd half of this season) playing in the same Europa League as Ajax, would be enough to bring Neres to Everton. We would offer £25m to Ajax, with a total of £29m going out, and our budget down to £138m.

One final piece of business is to bring in additional coaching. We felt Mike Phelan would be a great addition, he's been out of work but is proven as a top coach. We feel he is a perfect fit under Big Sam and frankly improves on the current coaching regime of Sammy Lee. We estimate his wages to be circa £1m per year, the higher price to reflect Mike's desire to be a manager, at least he'd be close to manager money.

Remaining budget end of January: £137m.

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Phase two. Now, we know the aim for the second half of the season was to qualify for the Europa League, but whether or not we achieved that wasn't going to change our summer transfer plans.

As a team, we decided we would sell the following players;

(We've included James McCarthy in this, we feel with his leg break it would be harsh to sell him in January, however he was going to be offloaded pre-injury so hopefully it's not too frowned upon to let him go in the summer.)

Maarten Stekelenburg - £900k TM Value - £25k p/w (£1.3m over 12 months) = £2.2m
Cuco Martina - £1.8m TM Value - €53k p/w rounded down to £45k p/w (£2.34m over 12 months) = £4.14m
James McCarthy - £10.8m TM Value - £50k p/w (£2.6m over 12 months) = £13.4m
Ramiro Funes Mori - £10.8m TM Value - £40k p/w (£2.08m over 12 months) = £12.88m
Total raised = £32.62m (rounded down to £32.5m)

And our incoming signings in the summer would be, beginning with our increased budget of £169.5m, are;

1. Hirving Lozano. Lozano is tearing it up at PSV but we feel the lure of the Premier League is stronger than ever, and with PSV a known selling club, we feel we can strike a deal. We would meet Lozano's £30m release clause, and quadruple his current €20k per week with a £75k per week contract. Total outgoings over 12 months = £34m, remaining budget £135.5m.

2. Jordan Lukaku. Lukaku has been making a great impression at Lazio, and we would like him to bolster our squad and challenge Juan Bernat for the LB/LWB role. One benefit is that his brother lives in the same north west of England and with the right wages, we feel that this would be a deal Jordan would be keen to complete. Not to mention it's his brothers old club. Transfer fee would be in the region of £15m, with wages of £75k per week a vast improvement and enticement. Total outgoings £19m, remaining budget £116.5m.

3. Sime Vrsaljko on a season long loan. Ideally we wouldn't use loan signings as we feel it hinders the long term project, however in Sime's case we had to make an exception. Vrsaljko is a phenomenal talent, however he is still out of favour at Atletico with Juanfran being a prominent figure. We would offer Vrsaljko first team football, in a very competitive league, and cover his wages while Atletico squeeze another season out of Juanfran, preparing Vrsaljko to go back to Atletico for the 2019/2020 season absolutely primed to take over the RB position. Outgoings would be modest, £2m to cover Vrsaljko's contract for the season. Remaining budget £114.5m.

4. Harry Maguire. Maguire moved to Leicester for £17m last year, we feel Leicester would be open to accepting a bid of £36.5m which would adequately compensate them and allow Maguire to join the Everton ranks. We also feel almost doubling Maguire's £80k per week to £150k per week would convince him we are a club going forwards. Total outgoings, £44.5m, remaining budget £70m.

5. Matthew Ryan. The Aussie born shot stopper has been great at Brighton this season, but as a former Liverpool player he does have links to the area, and we feel we can offer Ryan a deal that would entice him to join Everton and challenge Pickford for the #1 shirt. We would offer £14.3m to more than double Brighton's initial outlay, and we know Ryan is on AUS$60k per week, which works out to roughly £35k per week. We'd double that to £70k. Total outgoings £18m, remaining budget £52m.

6. Olivier Giroud. Giroud isn't going to play much for Arsenal with the impending arrival of Aubameyang. We would offer Arsenal a £20m fee but it's the wages that Arsenal would be keen to save. Giroud is currently on £100k per week, but to convince Giroud (and Mrs Giroud) to join us, we would offer double that, to make Giroud our highest paid player at £200k per week. Silly money but such is the football world at the moment. Total outgoings, just over £10m in wages so £30m, leaving £22m remaining in our pocket.

We believe that these signings, alongside the signings made in January, would propel us into Top 4 challengers, and without expecting too much from Sam Allardyce's usual format, as these players would buy into what we feel we can achieve as a club. Our remaining budget of £22m would be exclusively put into our Youth Academy, to improve the facilities and coaching, which would hopefully lead to more youth team gems emerging in the future.

Thank you for reading.