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When Everton released a 62-second video clip on 9 July announcing Wayne Rooney’s return after 13 years, optimism levels at Goodison Park were scaling heights unheard of in years.

Everton’s board had moved swiftly and efficiently to secure the signings manager Ronald Koeman wanted with Jordan Pickford, Davy Klaassen, Michael Keane and Sandro Ramirez already on the payroll at a cost of £90m by the time the Prodigal Son made his way back down the M62 from Manchester United.

Romelu Lukaku had made his own £90m move in the opposite direction but even that could not overshadow the sense – with a club record £45m deal for Swansea City’s Gylfi Sigurdsson in the pipeline – that Everton were ready to make an impact among the big hitters.

And yet, despite a routine win over Championship strugglers Sunderland in the Carabao Cup, Everton are in the Premier League’s bottom three before Saturday’s meeting with Bournemouth at Goodison Park.

So is this just a case of transition for an expensively reconstructed squad or does Koeman face deeper worries – and what has caused these early concerns?

Once Lukaku announced in March that he would not be signing a new contract, he was effectively giving Everton notice he would leave Goodison Park.

Everton, with director of football Steve Walsh working on deals with Koeman and the board, should have made replacing their 25-goal leading scorer from last season top priority.

Spain Under-21 striker Sandro was brought in for £5.2m from Malaga while Rooney made his return. Dominic Calvert-Lewin, England’s match-winner in the under-20 World Cup Final against Venezuela, is a promising work in progress as he has proved this season.

None, however, carry the pace, power and guarantee of goals that Lukaku brought to Everton and has already delivered at Manchester United.

Everton believed they were close to a deal for Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud but were left floundering when he decided to stay. Plan B appeared to have been mislaid.

The familiar last-day transfer scramble which Everton fans thought had gone with the arrival of major shareholder, billionaire Farhad Moshiri, drew a blank and Koeman – who had regularly flagged up his desire for a striker – was left without that pivotal signing.

It was a huge collective failure of Everton’s management structure underlined by only two goals in their first five league games – both from Rooney – and undermined so much fine earlier work.

Even the feel-good factor of Rooney’s comeback, and he has been one of Everton’s best performers, has been overshadowed by unwanted headlines after he was found guilty of a drink-driving offence.

Former Everton winger Ronny Goodlass, who summarises on the club’s games for Radio Merseyside, told BBC Sport: “I think not getting a striker has had an impact on everything. They spent too long getting Sigurdsson done and took their eye off the ball for a centre-forward.

“You can see Everton are just crying out for a centre-forward. It was, and is, glaringly obvious.

“I think now, for the next four months, Everton could really struggle. They have not been creating anything and have not been keeping clean sheets.”

Former Everton captain Kevin Ratcliffe was equally concerned by that failure in the transfer window that left a huge Lukaku-shaped hole in Everton’s plans.

Ratcliffe, who led Everton to two titles, an FA Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup in the mid-80s, said: “How did we let this happen? I’m looking at the squad and wondering if it’s good enough to be in the top four.

“Maybe not – I’m even thinking whether it’s capable of finishing in the top six to be honest.”

The lack of a focal point has resulted in no continuity of selection, with Sigurdsson – an outstanding number 10 bought on his strengths in that position – sometimes shoehorned into the team on the left.

It has also led to striker Oumar Niasse, exiled by Koeman after only 45 minutes of the first pre-season friendly following his arrival as manager then loaned to Hull City, finding his way back into the fold, the £13.5m signing from Lokomotiv Moscow scoring his first goal for the club against Sunderland on

Wednesday, 500 days after his last Everton appearance.

He only remains at Everton because a deadline day move to Crystal Palace broke down at the last minute.

Everton had to make replacing Lukaku the central plank of their entire transfer strategy – failure to do so has been exposed painfully quickly.— BBC.