Everton have their sights set on European football, having come close to securing passage out onto the continent in the Premier League last season.

But David Moyes' side flaked away, going seven league games without a win to close out the campaign. After The Friedkin Group and technical director Angus Kinnear branded the season a "failure", strengthening across the summer transfer window felt like a pre-requisite for the Toffees.

Somehow, Kinnear has allowed Everton to weaken over the past few months, and confidence in his authority as the technical director at the Hill Dickinson is ebbing away.

Kinnear's biggest Everton mistakes this summer

Everton's transfer window was disastrous. There can be no two ways about it. Sure, Moyes has rallied his troops and marched defiantly into the current campaign, but this squad is short on numbers, and it could be their undoing in the fight to qualify for Europe.

The fanbase poured into open rebellion, railing against the owners and the mis-management at senior level. At the end of the transfer window, they had sold forwards Iliman Ndiaye and Beto and then failed to replace then with earmarked targets such as Richarlison, Folarin Balogun and Joshua Zirkzee.

Not only has Kinnear left Everton in a weaker position from a numerical standpoint, but he has stripped them of quality they could ill-afford to lose. Beto scored goals, but Ndiaye's £65m sale to Manchester City, without finding and signing a suitable replacement, was egregious.

The Senegalese winger had been described last season as "one of the best players to watch in the Premier League" by sports writer James Nalton. He only scored six times in the Premier League last term, but he played with such panache and aura down the left wing and the right.

It's been a testing time for the Merseysiders, and Kinnear must now prove that he is the man to ensure Everton bounce back in the transfer market.

Well, if one recent rumour proves to be true, supporters may finally have had enough with the debacles at senior level.

Kinnear could face sack after Everton latest

In as far as fanbases are concerned, Everton are one of the most ambitious outfits in the country. It's frustrating that this rarely feels reflected by the ownership.

The Friedkin Group want to sell up after only two years, and Kinnear's transfer dealings this summer were anything but ambitious.

It's concerning how short-changed Everton have been left. The first team lack numbers, and with that in mind, it would be catastrophic to see Jordan Pickford leave to sign for Bayern Munich.

According to journalist Alan Nixon on Patreon, Everton's star shot-stopper has been earmarked by Bayern as the perfect man to replace Manuel Neuer, who is out of contract at the end of the season.

Pickford is one of the greats. Surely Everton's best goalkeeper of the modern era, he is also beloved across the nation for his enduring role between the sticks for England over the past decade.

Not only is Pickford irreplaceable at the Hill Dickinson, but he is a talismanic figure, and selling him to Bayern next summer would only sow more discontent across the fanbase, fanning flames that need stuffing out.

Should Everton resist Bayern Munich advances and keep the commanding keeper at the club until - at least - 2029, when his £150k-per-week salary expires, there's even a chance that Pickford would move toward record-appearance territory in the Premier League for Everton. To be sure, this is one of the club's greatest players, and they can ill-afford to sell him now.

Ndiaye was a top attacker for Everton, but it never felt like he was going to settle down and spend his prime years on Merseyside. Pickford is different, and cashing in would surely spell the end for Kinnear - even if Everton manage to bank a pretty penny, as they have technically done through a host of summer sales this year.

It's not a bold take to argue that Kinnear is not the flavour of the month at Everton right now. However, he has the power to avoid any further detrimental mistakes which might knock Moyes' system out of kilter.

Pickford is the life-blood of this Everton team. Selling him in 2027 would be a more egregious sin than cashing in on wantaway Ndiaye this summer.