There's no denying that the Toffees did brilliantly to finish fifth last season. After all, they spent far less than many of the teams that finished below them, including Tottenham, Manchester City and Newcastle. However, it's unlikely that Everton can continue to punch above their weight in the Premier League on a relatively shoestring budget. While it's clear that David Moyes will invest in new talent this summer, they are unlikely to win any bidding wars that occur, and the Scot may have to continue making do with some value players from the Championship.

Sky Sports reports that Phil Neville is up for the fight next term, stating that he wants the Goodison Park outfit to be up there knocking on the door of the top four. However, rather than expect to compete with the financial clout of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, it's surely all about winning the mini-league involving Spurs, Newcastle, City and Aston Villa instead. These are all teams who will be expecting a UEFA Cup spot next season and spending plenty of cash to try to achieve this.

“I think we owe it to everybody in the league to make sure the top four are consistently challenged because it would be a boring league if, every year, the same four teams finish in the top four," the Everton captain told Sky Sports News.

"We did it three years ago and finished in a Champions League position in fourth place, so that's our aim this season."

However, the odds are increasingly stacked against a club like Everton making the Champions League again, unless a billionaire decides to invest in them. To give them credit, the blue half of Merseyside have always gone about business in the right manner, refusing to overspend in order to finish higher up the pecking order and only occasionally splashing the cash when they've felt it necessary. For example, acquiring Yakubu for £13million last year was a rare luxury amidst the bargain bin signings that were also made.

At least Neville is realistic about the other clubs and their potential spending power. "With the European Championships, a lot of managers are out there looking at players,” he said. "I think a lot of teams have got money out there and a lot of teams want to do better this season than they did last. It's up to us to keep improving and sign a few players to make sure we're still ahead of everybody else below us."

Who should Everton be signing to ensure that they are even stronger next season? Naturally, it's all about retaining the players who have helped them become a force in the Premier League. Aside from Mikel Arteta, there has been relatively little speculation linking their players with a move away from Goodison – an indication that most of them feel they are on to a good thing with the club.

However, a trophy such as the UEFA Cup has to be Everton’s best hope next season. It’s hard to see them challenging the top four and they might find one or two other teams too good in their quest for fifth place. Tottenham have shown their recent intentions by acquiring Alan Hutton, Jonathan Woodgate and Luka Modric, while Man City are speaking to the likes of Ronaldinho and manager Mark Hughes will clearly be armed with more spending ammunition than David Moyes can hope to have.