What can Everton hope for?

Everton made it four wins in their last five Premier League games by hammering a hapless Manchester United side 4-0 at Goodison Park on Sunday.

Goals from Richarlison, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Lucas Digne and Theo Walcott gave United and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer many big problems to mull over. However, that’s not anything for Marco Silva and the blue half of Merseyside to concern themselves with.

What Everton, as a club, do need to consider, is exactly what they can hope to achieve over the next few years.

That 4-0 win puts Everton in 7th position in the Premier League, ahead of Watford on goal difference. Yet, in the grand scheme of things, The Toffees are as far away from the league’s big six as they’ve ever been.

Manchester United, sitting in 6th, are still 15 points clear of Everton despite Sunday’s heavy defeat.

Last season, Everton finished 8th in the PL, 14 points behind the top six. The season before that, they were 7th, just 8 points back. The gap is as big as ever and could be wider again by the end of this campaign.

Everton, to really have any hope of breaking into the top six will need a manager of a similar ilk to that of Spurs’ Mauricio Pochettino. The Argentine has helped his Spurs squad to consistently over-achieve in recent years.

Spurs don’t have a huge wage bill, in comparison to Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea. Last summer, they also had to forego any transfer activity in their preparations for the big move to their new stadium.

Is Marco Silva capable of such feats when building around this current Everton squad?

Besides a few – maybe Lucas Digne, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Richarlison – you wouldn’t expect to see any of the current Everton squad plying their trade in the Premier League’s top six.

Club captain, Seamus Coleman, once reportedly sought after by Manchester United, is now 30 and has his best years behind him, as is the case with Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka.

However, if Silva can build on a spine consisting of Jordan Pickford, Yerry Mina, Michael Keane, Idrissa Gueye, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Richarlison, then Everton fans may have something to look forward to.

In Dominic Calvert-Lewin, The Toffees also have another talented youngster. The trouble might be in keeping hold of their best players.

Richarlison looks like he could well be lining out for a bigger club in the not-too-distant future. He’s certainly good enough to take a step up.

Does Silva have the presence to keep a player like Richarlison? Does he have the charisma to attract others to the club when they most likely will not be able to offer the carrot of European football to potential signees?

Exactly where the club is aiming for is anyone’s guess right now. That top six is getting tougher to reach every year, though.

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