Even Romelu Lukaku departure could not dampen Everton fans' positivity over summer of transfer excitement

I think the real buzz amongst blues especially ones who were lucky enough to watch us through our golden era comes in the knowledge that our beloved club now has a chance to replicate past years glory; it's only what this club and its supporters deserve.

For years this massive club has been in hibernation almost waiting in the shadows of mediocre /nothing teams who where lucky enough to be invested and marketed in way that helped them progress financially and in a footballing sense. We did not.

I love Everton and to finally feel like me and my lad could see us do well, win stuff the new ground happening "gonna be amazing I reckon," is the only thing I could ever want as a blue. Let's make more history to sing about. COYB!!!!

Now, if in addition to the recent signings, Everton announced that Lukaku is going nowhere, then maybe I'd start getting excited (even more so if Everton also announced that Barkley has signed a new deal). Compared to that scenario, the recent signings by themselves are at this stage a bit of close-season retail therapy.

I'd rather we get it done by the weekend and can move on with new forward targets and creative midfield options to challenge/replace Barkley.

If Lukaku has gone for 㿷M upfront + 㾻M add-ons, that should comfortably secure us 2 or 3 new players.

I reckon the following could be doable for a similar sum as approximately one Lukaku:

Giroud for 㿀M
Dembele for 㿅M (Celtic aren't playing in the same financial leagues)
Siggurdson for 㿏M (We apparently offered 㿊M and they've asked for 㿔M but I think a take it or leave it at 㿏M could do the job, I can't see Leicester paying more)

If we do the above plus bring Rooney across to add more experience and guile to the attacking options, we'd have 5-6 players who could play across the front to choose from (Sandro, Giroud, Dembele, Rooney and Calvert-Lewin Lookman) plus a couple of further youth options to come through or get the odd game.

With several of these forward players able to play wide or from attacking midfield along with Sigurdsson, Klaassen, Dowell, Mirallas, Lennon and arguably Davies plus Bolasie to come back in hopefully around Xmas we should have enough creativity too (whether or not Barkley stays).

Meanwhile Gueye, Schneiderlin, Davies, Besic and Barry offer a strong basis (again, whether or not McCarthy goes).

Given that Moshiri had been on board for barely 3 months, I thought it prematurely judgemental and so wonder if Phil is currently planning a "False Dawn 2" follow-up? Go on Phil, you know you can do it!

This included replacing the manager, selling Bobby Collins, losing good players to injury, bringing in some steel in Kay and Stevens and embedding a mixture of homegrown talent and new players into a structure that eventually prevailed and was subsequently developed further. And played some lovely stuff too.

Exciting as it was, it did take time, in an era when the playing field was a lot more level, and teams like Ipswich and Burnley were up there challenging and winning stuff.

So this is a unique time to be an Evertonian but this is just the start of something which hopefully will end up as something to tell your grandchildren about. So enjoy it but accept the bumps in the road along the way.

Lukaku arguably doesn't deserve to be part of this journey.

I guess the next question is: What about Ross?