Everton football chief Kevin Thelwell has defended their summer market campaign.
Thelwell insists the squad is now stronger than it was a year ago.
He said: "A challenging summer transfer window came to an end at the start of this month, and, overall, we are pleased with the quality of the players we were able to add to our men's senior team.
"The strict financial parameters we had to work around meant we needed to be considered, diligent and patient in our trading, making acquisitions that included the free transfer and loan market, while also selling players if we felt it made good business sense to do so.
"Crucially, we are confident we head into this weekend's match and the season ahead with a better-balanced squad than the one we had last term.
"From the end of the 2022/23 campaign, our priority was strengthening our attack in terms of goals and assists, and it was evident that was a clear focus for the summer window.
"Adding Arnaut Danjuma, Jack Harrison, Ashley Young who plays in a deeper role but can operate higher up the pitch Youssef Chermiti and Beto undoubtedly gives us more forward options and greater attacking depth.
"Our view, along with Sean's, was that if we could keep the same solid defensive base we had last season, retain our midfielders and then improve in the wide areas and striking options, we should be far better equipped for the campaign. I think we've achieved that.
"Ideally, we would have got all our transfer deals done before the start of the season but the reality is, to do that, you often have to pay the maximum price for a player and that is not a position we were able to operate in. It meant we had to wait until late in the window to negotiate hard and be creative to enable us to succeed in the deals we wanted to make."