No further January signings expected at Everton as Sam Allardyce focuses on cutting squad

Sam Allardyce does not believe Everton will recruit any further new signings during the remaining portion of the January transfer window and says the club are now fully focused on trimming a bloated first-team squad.

The Toffees have recently attempted to remedy their attacking weaknesses that were not addressed during a summer of heavy spending despite the sale of Romelu Lukaku to Manchester United, with Theo Walcott ending his 12-year stay at Arsenal to move to Goodison Park in a £20m ($27.8m) deal earlier this week.

That followed the addition of Turkish striker Cenk Tosun, who made his debut in the 4-0 drubbing by Tottenham Hotspur last weekend after joining from Besiktas for a £27m fee.

Many believe that defensive additions are also required, particularly in terms of a specialist left-back that can provide adequate competition and cover for the injured Leighton Baines, with a multitude of players linked including Juan Bernat, Luke Shaw, Aaron Cresswell, Alex Telles and Patrick van Aanholt.

However, Allardyce insists Everton are now primarily concerned with getting players out of the door.

"No, I don't think so," he told reporters at a press conference held at Finch Farm before Saturday's (20 January) Premier League visit of West Bromwich Albion when asked if there were more signings to come. "We would be more, in terms of where we are at the moment, [interested in] moving players on.

"The squad is too big. There's 33 players here at the moment and from my point of view that means reducing that squad... although squad numbers are important for me and the football club and the players that may leave.

"We don't know who they are because you are waiting for other clubs to come and show an interest. Certainly I think moving a few players on now is the order for us."

Everton have already sanctioned the £15m sale of Ross Barkley to Chelsea this month in addition to loaning Kevin Mirallas to former club Olympiacos and offloading youngsters Harry Charsley, Liam Walsh and Gethin Jones, while the likes of Davy Klaassen, Oumar Niasse, James McCarthy, Muhamed Besic and Sandro Ramirez have all been mentioned in connection with moves away from Merseyside.

Aaron Lennon to Newcastle United on loan is another rumour that surfaced on Thursday and Allardyce admits the 30-year-old winger's future, if an offer is forthcoming, essentially lies in the hands of chairman Bill Kenwright and director of football Steve Walsh.

Pressed if there was any truth to those rumours over Lennon, he said: "I don't know. I think I'll probably find out at some stage or another but obviously that lies in the hands of the chairman and Steve, the director of football. They handle all that side of it and all those negotiations if and when they go on."

While Everton supporters may be disappointed to learn that no further new signings are likely, Allardyce insisted that his defence is now getting stronger with key centre-half Micheal Keane back in contention after the recurrence of a foot problem and Seamus Coleman training again after 10 months on the sidelines following a horrific double leg break.

"Seamus Coleman's close to coming back, he's back in training," he added. "That's another bonus for us. Michael Keane's back, so the squad is getting stronger hopefully and getting bigger. Certainly we need to turn our results around, starting Saturday."