The final deals of the summer provided the sting in the tail of a transfer window that had included genuine positives for Everton.

The club finally sought to address its longstanding reliance on Dominic Calvert-Lewin by bringing in Beto and the frontline was bolstered by further promising additions, including Arnaut Danjuma.

But while the decisions to sell Alex Iwobi and Tom Cannon both hold financial merit and offered the club a late and significant boost to its bottom line, each move was a painful reminder of how the club remains in a position of weakness as key parts of its present and future were sacrificed.

That the exits of both players did not lead to additional incomings is understood to have been down to a desire on Everton’s part not to gamble on players they were unsure of. Yet those moves, along with the departure of Neal Maupay, also present a risk. Deadline day business has left Sean Dyche with a threadbare squad now thought to include just a dozen fit, senior outfield players for the trip to Sheffield United.

Deals for Iwobi and Cannon, to Fulham and Leicester City respectively, were advanced heading into Friday. Both players passed medicals and were announced at their new clubs in the closing hours of the window. Iwobi, who was in the final year of his contract and had not signed a new deal after negotiations opened last September, left for a package thought to be worth around £22m. Cannon’s move could reach around £7.5m.

Both benefit the finances of a club that has been forced to be savvy during the summer. Director of football Kevin Thelwell and Dyche had their ambitions stunted by limited resources, a point Dyche has repeatedly stressed when asked to comment upon the club’s exploration of the market. The deals follow the high-profile sales of Richarlison and Anthony Gordon over recent windows, both moves influenced by financial necessity as the club attempts to address several years of expensive losses and comply with profit and sustainability regulations.

Each exit represents a gamble though. Iwobi’s versatility and physical resilience has been crucial to both Frank Lampard and Sean Dyche’s successful fights to stave off relegation. He has also been central to the glimmers of quality shown through those tough campaigns. The fear of losing him for nothing next summer and the likelihood Dyche would not use him in his most effective position on the left of a central midfield three are both important factors when judging his sale. Yet the departure of the 27-year-old means Everton’s thin squad has lost cover on both wings, in the middle and on the right of defence – places Iwobi has played a key role since the revival of his Blues career upon the arrival of Lampard. In selling him to Fulham, Everton have lost one of the club’s best players to a potential relegation rival.

Cannon, meanwhile, was unlikely to feature in the first team this season but was the club’s most promising academy starlet. Viewed from afar as so good the European Championship winning England Under-21s set-up is trying to coax him to switch allegiance from the Republic of Ireland, he is a player that in better times the club would surely have allowed to continue his development under the gaze of its own coaches, whether from Finch Farm or from afar during a loan spell. His sale followed a summer in which young players Ellis Simms and Ishe Samuels-Smith both departed in useful deals for the club’s accounts. Simms, who went to Coventry City, was unlikely to have a prolonged Blues career but youth defender Samuels-Smith’s exit to Chelsea, along with Cannon’s, was evidence of a club willing to sell future prospects for present necessity.

Deadline day had begun with an expectation of sales but hope of signings. Everton spent the summer seeking a right winger, engaging in a long and public pursuit of Leeds United teen Wilfried Gnonto. The chase led to the 19-year-old missing games, training away from the first team and his club issuing a statement confirming its determination to retain him. He had been re-integrated into Daniel Farke’s squad over the past week but the Blues, boosted by the sales being drawn up, are thought to have returned to Leeds on Friday. The Yorkshire club held firm, however. The ECHO understands Everton did not attempt to open talks on his teammate Luis Sinisterra, another rumoured target. Kamaldeen Sulemana, another winger on Everton’s radar this summer after he joined Southampton over the Blues in January, remained at the south coast club while a deal was not struck for Maxwel Cornet. Cornet had been signed by Dyche at Burnley and there was interest from Merseyside, however West Ham United’s preference to sell him rather than loan the player is thought to have been a sticking point. Fulham’s Harrison Reed was also considered but a move did not advance.

The deadline day surprise instead came from Brentford, who moved for former player Neal Maupay. The striker has endured a difficult time on Merseyside, scoring just one Premier League goal since his move 12 months ago. Dyche’s decision not to start him in the Carabao Cup tie at League Two Doncaster Rovers on Wednesday suggested he had moved down the pecking order as the game offered an opportunity for a much-needed confidence boost. Yet his exit was unexpected as Thomas Frank was re-united with the player he held great affection for before losing him to Brighton and Hove Albion in 2019. The London club signed the French forward on a loan deal that included an option to buy.

Maupay’s final appearance was from the bench at Doncaster, where Everton’s marquee summer signing made his debut and scored. Beto was a deadline day target in January and returned to Thelwell’s radar after a summer spent hunting a target man with the attributes to offer cover and competition for Calvert-Lewin. The forward joined from Udinese after a window that saw Leeds striker Rodrigo instead move to the Middle East, Almeria forward El Bilal-Toure head to Atalanta after the Serie A side received a windfall through the sale of Rasmus Hojlund to Manchester United, Everton fail to reach an agreement with Southampton over Che Adams and tentative looks at Brian Brobbey at Ajax and Leicester’s Kelechi Iheanacho and Patson Daka. Anthony Elanga, of Man Utd, was another wing target but he moved to Nottingham Forest despite Everton reviving its interest from January.

Beto changed the cup tie at Doncaster and his impact offered genuine hope the biggest priority of Everton’s window was solved. His arrival was a welcome injection of positivity and the deal that led him to the club for a package of around 30m Euros with no upfront payment was a sleight of hand from Thelwell that could prove to be the most significant factor in Everton’s fight to make progress across his three transfer windows at the club.

The Portuguese forward’s introduction also helped Danjuma open his Blues account. Both Danjuma and Everton moved past the troubles of his 11th hour decision to go to Tottenham Hotspur instead of the Blues in January to return to talks this summer. His loan move from Villarreal provides Everton with an attacking threat with Champions League pedigree that has also been supported by the addition of Jack Harrison on loan from Leeds. Harrison is a proven Premier League attacker who will be vital to Dyche when he returns from injury. Youssef Chermiti, the teenage forward signed from Sporting, was a surprise addition who, with the signing of Beto, should have the space and time to develop into the player Everton hope he will be.

The aura of Lampard was a major attraction to players last summer and Dyche proved capable of convincing targets too. Danjuma cited him as a draw after discussions with both him and AC Milan manager Stefano Pioli. He was also key to the arrival of Everton’s first summer signing Ashley Young, an experienced professional who added value on the pitch and in the dressing room. The 38-year-old made his professional breakthrough in the Watford team Dyche was a senior player within.

For Everton to have addressed key areas with minimal upfront payments offered real promise heading into the final days of the transfer window. Few will have disagreed with the comments ahead of the opening game of the season by Thelwell, who wrote of his commitment to only sanction the release of scant funds if Everton were confident a move held real value.

Reckless spending has underpinned the club’s financial problems – and forms part of the backdrop that has led to the alleged breach of a financial regulation made against Everton by the Premier League that is set to be considered next month. Everton vehemently deny wrongdoing. While Thelwell’s caution has been forced upon him by the actions of others with authority at the club over recent years, the departures of the final day mean a sense of concern will follow the Blues into the post-transfer window depths of the season.

A long list of injuries combined with the departures, which also included the loan move of Mason Holgate to Southampton, leaves Dyche with around 12 outfield senior players without fitness concerns for the crucial trip to Sheffield United. That situation should get better as players return to fitness over the coming weeks but Everton will need better luck with injuries than recent seasons if they are to avoid another difficult campaign. Jean-Philippe Gbamin will not have an attempt to revive his torrid Everton career though, the 27-year-old’s contract having been terminated on Friday.

One situation that will have an impact and which remains unresolved is the future of Demarai Gray, who has not been involved in first team action since his return to Everton from Gold Cup action with Jamaica. The winger is the subject of interest from clubs in Saudi Arabia, where the transfer window remains open and so a sale could still be completed. The departures of the final day may lead to his situation being reconsidered. Clubs in the Middle East may also be a future destination for other remaining fringe players over the coming weeks.