Everton will have to move mountains to gather what little funds they can this summer in order to spend.
And whilst Kevin Thelwell might have suggested that major sales will be needed, he will be quietly hoping that he can instead shift a bit of the deadwood and retain the core of this squad which has achieved remarkable things this campaign.
It seems like a dream just to be able to keep ahold of these prized assets, which marks a sad indictment of their failures.
However, that’s not to suggest that there are no expendable and sellable players from whom the club could profit.
Neal Maupay failed at Everton
One such example of this is Neal Maupay, who has already admittedly failed at Everton, and will now arguably never be more out of favour.
After all, in his one year with the Toffees, he found the net just once before leaving for Brantford on loan last season. He would hardly uproot any trees there though, scoring a further six Premier League goals which did not entice them to take up the permanent transfer option.
He now returns to Goodison Park unwanted, with Maupay’s antics whilst away, namely lambasting Evertonians, unlikely to have won him any affection.
The 5 foot 8 marksman struggled under Frank Lampard, and now with a completely different, physical-focused regime in power, his future seems increasingly likely to be spent away from Everton.
Sean Dyche has a few problem positions
The fact that the Toffees can offload Maupay and not have to find an alternative is a huge positive for the club, who can simply cut their losses on the £50k-a-week forward and move on.
Meanwhile, players like Jarrad Branthwaite or Amadou Onana, were they to be sold, would almost definitely need replacing.
But a diminutive striker, who was never going to work for Sean Dyche and spent all of the recent campaign out on loan, will hardly be a big miss.
Especially when the club already boasts three options in his position anyway: Beto, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Youssef Chermiti.
There are, however, a few other problem positions that Dyche and Kevin Thelwell will want to fix. Notably, out wide they have an alarming lack of depth, made even more sparse by the departures of Jack Harrison and Arnaut Danjuma to their parent clubs.
That leaves just Lewis Dobbin and Dwight McNeil as the only two fit wide men left at Everton.
Not only that, but a bit more strength in depth in the full-back roles would not go amiss, to remove Ashley Young from his immediate replacement role and allow him to finish his career as the bench player the 38-year-old should be.