Before the Premier League season curtails for the extended Autumn international break, Everton face Tottenham Hotspur in London before hosting newly-promoted Ipswich Town.

Despite all the uncertainty and strife and calamity of the summer transfer window, the Toffees have made an unbeaten start to the season, beating Crystal Palace before fighting back to claim a point against Bournemouth and then Manchester United.

David Moyes is up for the fight, but he is acutely aware of his team's deficiencies. Everton have been shorn of their depth, and while they are scouring the free agent market, landing an attacker who might compensate for Iliman Ndiaye's £65m sale to Manchester City will be difficult.

Why Ndiaye will be such a big miss for Everton

In fairness, Tyrique George has started the season in fine fettle indeed, bringing the flair and combativeness and X-factor in front of goal that Ndiaye supplied so readily for Everton.

But whether the 20-year-old can be expected to compensate for Ndiaye's absence over the course of the campaign is another question entirely. Ndiaye was something special for the Toffees, not only an exciting attacker, but a cutting goalscorer too. With Beto also sold, Everton need to find new ways to score goals.

George can help in that regard. What a goal that was against Man United. Barry continues to blow hot and cold, but he has scored three goals and suppleid an assist already this term, and continues to get into promising positions, albeit missing more than his share of chances.

Ndiaye only scored six times in the Premier League last year, but that is maybe an indictment of the wider attacking struggles at Everton. Beto was the only player to hit double digits in all competitions.

The total failure to bolster the attacking ranks is nothing short of a disaster. The Friedkin Group are looking for new shareholders and it's hardly surprising.

But the show must go on. Moyes' side are defiant, and the supporters are too (fighting tooth and nail to prevent the £40m sale of Harrison Armstrong to Nottingham Forest).

And while it's not perfect, Everton do have their next Ndiaye-esque talisman ready to burst onto the scene.

Everton have already found their next Ndiaye

Farewell, Ndiaye. You will be missed on Merseyside. However, it was clear that the Senegalese winger was always open to a new chapter, and it's lucky that Everton did manage to sign themselves a new talisman before the transfer window slammed shut.

Indeed, the fact that Jack Grealish picked a return to the Hill Dickinson this summer despite attracting attention from boyhood club Aston Villa and Sunderland besides illustrates the strength of the project Moyes has created, pragmatic but rooted in togetherness and a desire to break onto higher ground.

Making his second debut for the Toffees, Grealish "completely changed the game", in the view of pundit Pat Nevin, when replacing the lacklucstre Brennan Johnson after the hour mark. He created a chance, completed a take-on and won three duels.

This is a player who is determined to fight for the shirt. Grealish, 30, is ready to embrace the talismanic responsibilities which have fallen onto his shoulders now that Ndiaye has left for pastures new.

Last season, Grealish, of course, thrived for the Toffees persuasion. He scored two goals and supplied six assists across 20 Premier League appearances. Moreover, he won 5.3 duels per game, showing that he still has the robust and energetic approach that will be needed now Ndiaye has fled.

Is it far-fetched to argue that Everton have what it takes to break into Europe? If Barry and George maintain goalscoring form as the campaign deepens - why not? After all, they will have a consummate playmaker in Grealish at the ready, someone who created two chances every game on average last season.

And that was with misfiring forwards ahead of him. It's up to Moyes to and the Everton frontline as a whole to create a purposeful, progressive unit, capable of challenging those ahead of them in the Premier League.

You could argue that Grealish already outstripped Ndiaye in regard to influence in Moyes' system last season. His season was cruelly curtailed, but how he made an impact before that point.