'No surprise' Everton are struggling after botched summer transfer window, says Tony Cottee

Former Everton striker Tony Cottee is "not surprised" by his former club's struggles and believes the Toffees' failure to adequately strengthen in the transfer window is the main reason why they have started the season so poorly.

The Toffees signed a host of new players during the summer but failed to replace Romelu Lukaku and as a result have scored just five goals in their opening eight Premier League matches. Gylfi Sigurdsson, Wayne Rooney and Davy Klaassen have shown no signs of gelling together, while the likes of Sandro Ramirez and Cuco Martina have produced a number of unimpressive performances.

Cottee, who scored 99 goals during his time at Goodison Park, thinks Everton's £45m signing of Iceland international Sigurdsson was needless due to the abundance of playmakers already at Goodison Park and believes the lack of a proven goalscorer is proving detrimental to Koeman's side fortunes.

"I'm not surprised they are struggling to a degree if you look at their transfer policy," Cottee told talkSPORT. "Gylfi Sigurdsson is a very good player but he wasn't what they needed and £45million was a lot to pay for him.

"They have ended up with lots of number tens. They have got Barkley to come back, they have got Rooney, they have got Sigurdsson, and they are not scoring goals. It is no surprise that they haven't got a goalscorer that Everton are in trouble."

Everton came perilously close to suffering their fifth defeat in six league matches against Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday (15 October) but a late Rooney penalty managed to spare Ronald Koeman's blushes. The Everton manager's future is rather uncertain at present, and Cottee admits he fears for the Dutchman's job as he prepares for a gruelling triple-header against Lyon, Arsenal and Chelsea.

"There is a lot of discontent up on Merseyside," said Cottee. "I do fear for Ronald Koeman. They have got Arsenal at the weekend and they are going to be in trouble if they don't start picking up results soon."