Everton boss Sean Dyche admits the timing of their sales meant they couldn't reinvest in new signings last summer.

Everton sold Tom Cannon, Neal Maupay and Alex Iwobi in the final days of the summer market last month.

Dyche said, “I can assure there are lots of players we've not wanted to lose in my time. Business is business. I have to make really tough decisions, do we keep that player, can we keep that player. Some are on big contracts.

"If we do that, we need to do that. It is not the days of three years ago when you could do that and that and that. It is clearly not happening, this is the juggling act of football finance.

“Bodies against performance against production against wages against someone else coming in. These all have to be factored in. It obviously gets tough. We are having to let players go first and then let's see. It was the reverse of being proactive.

"We brought in a lot of money but it was very late in the window and couldn't do anything with it. That was the challenge and he was part of that thinking. Productivity, game time, wages, performances against someone else coming in. That has to balance. The financial balance to make it work. It has been a tough window, trust me."