Football Season Guide

Everton approach the new season with the biggest amount of optimism in at least five seasons. There is no clear reason for that apart from the fact that David Moyes really created a strong group of players at the end of last season and has managed to retained the most important of them during close season. Moreover, there is real buzz around Goodison Park about the free signing of Steven Naismith who is the man expected to fill the boots of departed Tim Cahill who joined NY Red Bulls after eight glorious seasons at Goodison Park. Everton still had to sell big in order to keep their head above the water and the departure of Jack Rodwell a week before the season is a blow but still not as big as losing Marouane Fellaini or Leighton Baines. Rodwell has undoubted potential and is a fine player when free of injuries but he has been injured almost non-stop since last November and getting £15m up front plus additional fees from Manchester City seems a fair deal. Moyes would expect another product of the academy, Ross Barkley, to make the step up having offered glimpses of quality last season and fill the gap left by Rodwell. Nikica Jelavic will aim to maintain his fantastic form since joining in January and in the Croatian the Toffees possess one of most lethal poachers in the division. Overall, the squad has a balanced look and if they avoid too many injuries, the Merseysiders may actually have a decent start of a season for a first time in ages. They are still quite unlikely to break the glass ceiling of top six but it is also difficult to see them dropping outside the top ten.