Everton are being forced to once again act with intelligence in the transfer market, as they desperately seek to stay within PSR this year.
Throughout the entire last Premier League season, it was these statutes that dominated, with fears over what their own division might do to them relentless.
Well, their worries were well-founded when, at two separate points, they were deducted points.
Sean Dyche worked miracles to guide his team through such uncharted territory, but now they face having to do it all over again should they choose to spend big this summer.
Fortunately, they have already identified a few shrewder transfer targets.
Everton plot summer transfer for Wilfred Ndidi
The latest on one transfer venture comes courtesy of French publication Foot Mercato, who claim that Wilfred Ndidi is of particular interest to Kevin Thelwell.
And whilst interest is unsurprisingly rife, given his £75k-a-week contract is due to expire this summer, perhaps the allure of the Premier League might tempt him to move across from Leicester to Liverpool.
The report reads: ‘Author of an excellent season in the Championship with 4 goals and 5 assists in 32 league matches, Ndidi could bring a real plus to a Lyon team that will have to face many deadlines next season.
‘It remains to be seen if OL will succeed in completing this nice move at €0 (the player is at the end of his contract on June 30 and is leaving despite the return of his club in the Premier League) especially since Real Betis and Everton have for a moment checked the name of the former Genk player.’
Wilfred Ndidi could replace Idrissa Gana Gueye
Across the many years that these two African midfield generals spent in the Premier League together, comparison was rife.
After all, for Leicester City and Everton respectively, they were two of the division’s best when it came to winning the ball back in the engine room.
They would go back and forth for tackling accolades with each passing season, with one report from Squawka in 2020 reading: ‘Since the start of 2017/18, Wilfred Ndidi and Idrissa Gueye have made 696 tackles combined. Wilfred Ndidi (372). Idrissa Gueye (324).’
This was followed up by the adulation handed to the Nigerian by BBC reporter John Bennett, who claimed back in 2021: ‘Wilfred Ndidi was absolutely exceptional today at Old Trafford… He just gets better and better. Elite player.’
Injuries were never kind to Ndidi, but in a Foxes side that comfortably earned promotion back into the Premier League, he was a mainstay for what feels like the first time in forever.
During the Championship campaign, he maintained an 82% pass accuracy alongside 1.2 tackles, 1.1 clearances and 3.3 ball recoveries per game, via Sofascore.
To compare this with Gueye, who enjoyed spells in and out of the starting side, and it is clear that the similarities have not waned with time. He managed a 86% pass accuracy, but his defensive figures remain supreme, averaging 2.9 tackles and seven ball recoveries per game.
To swap the 34-year-old for the 27-year-old, who is available for nothing, would mark intelligent business once again from Everton.