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Everton only 70 per cent fit for new season – Ronald Koeman

We already know, for example, that Pochettino is working his players to the bone to improve their fitness because this will pay dividends down the road when other teams begin to tire out.

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Koeman also confirmed Williams will not be considered for this weekend’s Premier League opener against Tottenham but does expect him to be available for the Toffees’ game against West Brom a week later.

“I’d say we are 70 per cent of where we need to be from a physical (point of view)”.

Wales captain Ashley Williams has completed his transfer to Everton from Swansea a day after the Toffees sold fellow centre-back John Stones.

‘Of course, it’s always nice to start the season, but we are not at the level we need to be.

“I had planned for Southampton to start the season one week or 10 days earlier because it is not good that players get six or seven weeks of holiday”. He has hardly missed a game since he has been with us. “In terms of the players and their physical state”.

Williams will not start against Spurs, but Koeman has ruled out Phil Jagielka leaving amid interest from Sunderland.

Ronald Koeman during the Everton FC press conference at Finch Farm on August 11, 2016 in Halewood, England.

The Wales worldwide will not line up for the Toffees in their season opener against Spurs, while Romelu Lukaku and Seamus Coleman are doubts. The Belgian striker, who continues to be linked with a lucrative return to former club Chelsea, needed three stitches to a heel injury sustained during the second half of a 1-0 pre-season friendly defeat to Espanyol at Goodison Park last weekend.

“Everton is a great club with an unbelievable manager – a world legend in football – and I believe the club is going in the right direction”.

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The manager would also not be drawn into talk of signing Yannick Bolasie or Lamine Kone, but did have some comments about the teams approach to the rest of the window.

Ashley Williams