Everton have found themselves struggling for consistent form in the Premier League for the second season in a row and Frank Lampard will surely be using the World Cup break to find solutions in preparation for when his team return to action after Christmas.

The Toffees are currently 17th in the top flight after a poor run of form, recently winning just one of their last five outings and are now just one point shy of the relegation zone ahead of their clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers later this month.

As a result, Lampard will need to quickly establish the best course of action to start picking up crucial points in order to climb the table and out of a dangerous position that could lead them into another relegation battle.

Indeed, the Everton manager will have the opportunity to add more depth and talent to his team when the January transfer window reopens but could boost his funds by continuing to develop and refresh the squad he has.

As well as signing eight new players, the powers at Goodison Park were clearly keen to get some of the deadwood off the books including Allan, Dele Alli, Cenk Tosun, Andre Gomes and Jean-Philippe Gbamin and now the club could continue their clear-out in January.

Two players that have been linked with moves away from the club are Abdoulaye Doucoure and Yerry Mina, with the pair becoming more fringe players than first names on the team sheet this season.

Mina has been struggling with constant injury problems over the last 18 months and has rarely been available for the team which led to the signing of both James Tarkowski and Conor Coady in the summer with the new centre-back's developing a flourishing partnership.

The lack of reliability from the Columbian defender contributed to the problems Everton faced over last season and now could be the perfect opportunity for the club to part ways with him and reinvest in other areas of the pitch.

As for Doucoure, the midfielder has also suffered with multiple injury concerns and with the signings of Amadou Onana, James Garner and Idrissa Gana Gueye, it is clear that he is not in Lampard's future plans, so it could be a great opportunity for the club to move on and again, reinvest.

Coincidentally both players are also the highest paid players at the club and collect a combined £240k-per-week at Goodison Park, so there is no doubt that freeing up the wage bill along with collecting a transfer fee for the pair could be extremely lucrative for Everton in their pursuit of strengthening the starting XI.

With that being said, selling Doucoure and Mina could be the perfect opportunity for Everton to continue their squad rebuild. They'd be ditching some overpaid squad members and consequently adding some much-needed talent to the team, something that would surely secure a better future for the Toffees over the second half of the season and beyond.