Everton director of football Kevin Thelwell admits last January was the toughest transfer window of his career.

Everton failed to make any additions while selling Anthony Gordon to Newcastle United.

"We've got to have the ability to move quickly," Thelwell told BBC Sport. "Because if we don't then we'll find ourselves in a space like we were in January. That's probably the worst space to be in.

"I have to say it's my toughest window I've ever had in football for sure. I've been in this role for maybe 10, 12 years at different clubs, so a lot of windows.

"When we sold Anthony [Gordon] there was some positivity because of the money we were generating. It was a good fee for Anthony, he's a very good player.

"There was some huge feeling of difficulty for me and the head of recruitment because we knew what was left, and we knew weren't going to be able to spend the money, or if we did it was on a player who wasn't good enough.

"You can only do what you can do really, which is evaluate all the plans that you made and see if you had all your ducks in the right row.

"I'm trying to understand if I could of done it any differently, or if it happens again would you do it differently. What I'd probably do is push more aggressively for us to sell earlier, because it gives us an opportunity to spend.

"We could just put a line in the sand and say 'look if you're interested in this player, you've got 48 hours to buy him or move on' because we aren't selling after this date.

"Unfortunately because of our circumstances we weren't able to do that, because everyone can see we needed the money. I'd try and be more aggressive and clearer about where that line lies."