Sam Allardyce Calls on Everton Stars to Decide Their Own Futures Ahead of Planned Meetings

Sam Allardyce has told Everton's first team stars that he needs to know whether they want to be part of his plans or not ahead of next month.

The Toffees manager is keen to learn if his current crop of senior players are prepared to be patient for regular football if they aren't in the starting lineup each week, and revealed that he wished for his players to be "honest" with him if they wanted to leave.

Allardyce's quotes were published by the Liverpool Echo, and he stated that every player who wanted to remain at Goodison Park would be given a chance to impress if they wanted to stick around.

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He said: “If every player is honest enough when I finally get through the one-on-ones they will tell me if they want to stay or they don’t.

"If you are going to be honest with the manager, or if they want to leave it a bit longer and see how it goes to January, then I’ll deal with it.

“I don’t want anyone here who doesn’t want to be here. By the same token there’s always a price to pay and the club accepts we are not going to be mugs and let people leave under value in today’s market. 

"People might want to move because it hasn’t quite worked or they have not settled as well as they thought. Up until then all these guys have a chance.”

Allardyce also reiterated his desire to bring a new striker to the club in the winter window as he looks to provide competition for places in his goalscoring ranks.

Borussia Dortmund hotshot Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Watford's Troy Deeney have been touted as possible additions, and the 63-year-old went on to add that those strikers already present - including misfit Sandro Ramirez - would be offered opportunities to lead the line.

He said: “At the moment we would look to add a goalscorer. Dominic [Calvert-Lewin] has done well, [Oumar] Niasse has scored a few. 

"It is the hardest thing to recruit players who score goals and hopefully there is somebody that can be brought in. If not, we will have to try to get Sandro to contribute a bit more.

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“When everybody is fit we have a 31-man squad. At this early stage adding more players to that would mean thinking ‘Who is going to come in for one of our players and am I prepared to sell them or rotate the squad a little bit?’

"I don’t want to be in a desperate position in January. I want the players to show me that I don’t desperately need to sign anyone and that we are going to be OK for this season. Then it would be a key element of next pre-season.

"The hardest time of the year to recruit the players, and the most expensive time, is January.”