Everton endured a rather torrid end to the 2019/20 season, finishing the campaign how they started it.
Under Marco Silva, the Toffees looked in trouble and were sitting towards the relegation places.
However, with Carlo Ancelotti at the helm, they looked a different proposition for the most part.
That was until the resumption of football following the worst of the global pandemic.
To coin an old phrase, Everton were on the beach for the final weeks of the term, as the Merseysiders won just one of their last six matches.
That shouldn't be of great concern though, especially given they had little to play for in the final months.
That being said, it's fine evidence that the club still need to improve considerably.
Ancelotti has dreams of returning Everton to Europe and without investment, that won't happen.
Fresh links have now emerged in the transfer market with the Toffees looking to raid Barcelona once again.
This time it's for a midfielder - Rafinha Alcantara.
Brother to Bayern Munich's Thiago, both Everton and Wolves have made enquiries to sign the 27-year-old according to Sport (via Sport Witness).
Rafinha was on loan at Celta Vigo last season and has a release clause of €16m (£14.3m).
The report states that the Brazilian's desire is to play in the Premier League and thus, he is unlikely to return to the club he starred for on a temporary basis last season.
GIVEMESPORT'S Matt Dawson says...
Rafinha, who scored four times and provided one assist this season, would be a canny piece of business for Everton.
The Toffees struggled to find their rhythm in midfield throughout 2019/20, not least because of Andre Gomes' horrific injury last year.
However, players like Gylfi Sigurdsson and Tom Davies never really got going.
The former scored twice all term, while Davies is finding it difficult to live up to the expectations he set a few campaigns ago.
The 22-year-old completed just 77.5% of his passes on the way to earning a WhoScored match rating below 6.5.
It was a torrid season for Davies and thus, the addition of someone like Rafinha would go a long way to plugging a problematic area for Ancelotti.
Seen as someone who could have replaced Xavi at Barcelona, his pass success rate sat over 87% while he also won 2.4 tackles per game in 2019/20.
During his breakthrough in La Liga, Andreu Fontas ran out of superlatives for him, suggesting: "Rafinha is a great player. Physically, he is a beast and, technically, he is superb."
Rafinha, therefore, is the ideal box to box midfielder, capable of breaking up the play but also scoring goals - he should have no trouble adapting to the robust and fast-paced nature of the Premier League.