Everton manager Roberto Martinez admits the World Cup means he may have to wait until the last minute to complete his transfer business.
The Spaniard can at least be more definitive with his summer spending after Hull's weekend FA Cup final defeat guaranteed Everton's direct progress into the group stage of the Europa League.
However, he will also give some of the club's emerging young talent the chance to stake a claim for promotion to the first-team squad during pre-season.
The Toffees' under-18s won their league with victory over Manchester City on Saturday and that could pave the way for some players to follow the path trodden by the likes of Ross Barkley, who earned a World Cup call-up on the back of the pivotal role he was given by Martinez this year.
"Recruitment is going to be important," Martinez told Press Association Sport.
"The right characters need to come to the club and we need to be large enough in terms of numbers to face every competition with a real desire to hit good performances.
"I do feel we have to be really clear in what we need, who we bring in, and it is going to take until the last day of the window to finalise the squad.
"It is a World Cup year and things will get delayed and certain situations will be worth us waiting until the last second to see if they happen or not and that is something we are well in control of.
"We have our targets and we have highlighted the positions we need to bring players in.
"But I also have a few young players who will be given an opportunity in pre-season and depending on how they do they will fill some of those positions in the first-team squad.
"I think our young players next season will have a massive say in how good we are going to be.
"We know what we are going to get from the experienced players but every time you bring a player into the club there is always a margin of error in terms of how they will adapt."
Martinez, who will also use the loan market extensively again, is looking to add two strikers, a right winger, defensive midfielder and a defender to his squad.
The future of Romelu Lukaku, who scored 16 goals in a season-long loan at Goodison Park, is likely to be one which drags on well into August as parent club Chelsea want to see how he performs at the World Cup before making a decision on the striker.
Martinez would be happy to take back the Belgian, Barcelona's Gerard Deulofeu and Monaco's Lacina Traore - who played just one game because of injury after a January loan move - on loan again for another campaign if possible.
Source: PA
