Former Everton boss Rafa Benitez has taken aim at the board.

Benitez was sacked midway through last season at Goodison Park.

He recalled to Sky Sports: "At the time Everton came in with the offer, I knew I would give my best and do everything to try to improve things.

"I knew it could be difficult because I was at Liverpool, so maybe I couldn't make some decisions. It was very clear for us at the beginning.

"I had a meeting with a head of one of the departments and I asked him, 'do you think everything is fine?' He said, 'yeah, everything is perfect'. I thought '£600m had been spent, it cannot be perfect when the owners aren't happy and the fans are not happy.'

"So I realised we had to change things inside, but I couldn't do it straight away because I was a former Red and it could be seen as,. 'oh, he's come in to change our club'.

"In another club, I would have made those decisions. I did it in the past, because you know very clearly that is the way to improve, but there at Everton I couldn't do it."