Ronald Koeman has stated his belief that Everton are one more transfer window away from being able to gatecrash the Premier League's elite.
The Dutchman has been hard at work overhauling his Toffees' first-team squad during the two windows that have played out during his first 10 months at the helm, with the 2017 January window being of particular note due to the incomings and outgoings at Goodison Park.
Speaking during an all-areas-access day at the club's USM Finch Farm training ground on Tuesday, with quotes published by the Liverpool Echo, Koeman has now claimed that he considers the Blues to be one more set of transfers away from competing with the top six sides in England's top tier.
He said: Not everything has been done. That's impossible in football. I've spoken already that we've had 12 or 13 new players in and that's a big change for the team and for the club.
We know we need one more transfer window to get that strong team that we'd like to have. If we get that for next season then we will really battle with the big ones in the Premier League, I'm really confident of that.�
Koeman drafted in Morgan Schneiderlin and Ademola Lookman from Manchester United and Charlton Athletic back in January, with the duo adding to the likes of Yannick Bolasie, Idrissa Gueye, Ashley Williams and Maarten Stekelenburg who arrived at the club last summer.
Fair play to @RonaldKoeman for looking exactly the same for the last 50 years pic.twitter.com/Wzu0v9kOjZ
The sextuplet have helped Everton climb to seventh in the league table this season - five points off Liverpool in fifth place - as they make a late push for a Champions League qualification spot through the Premier League.
It has taken a number of months for Everton's players to get used to Koeman's winning mentality and way of playing, and the 53-year-old added that he now expected his charges to follow his lead and put the Toffees back on the footballing map.
He added: In this situation at Everton I'm a new manager and everyone needs time to adapt, understand and to know the characters of the players.
If you compare the squad this season to last season we have 12 or 13 new faces in. You need time to see how the new manager likes to play and you need to get good fitness, I think it's really important.
You can't be happy if you lose the game. Maybe you didn't do your best or it was not good organisation in the game. I really hate to lose. The best feeling in football is winning the game because it's such a nice life but you have to deal with disappointments as well.
I'm the manager of Everton. We like to develop our players, have a strong team and win titles. That's the target that I had when I came to Everton and what I still have.�
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