Everton may not have started the season as strongly as they would have hoped, but there is cause for optimism at Goodison Park.

12-points from eight games leaves the Toffees mired in the middle of the pack, with an even spread of wins, draws and loses.

Brazilian summer signing Richarlison and Iceland international Gylfi Sigurdsson have played their part in the good times on Merseyside so far, but the Everton board are looking to the future for the next step on.

Champions League nights have often been a dream for the blue half of Liverpool, with Everton last in the competition back in 2005 when they faced Villarreal CF in the qualifying rounds.

The UEFA Cup and more recently the Europa League has been the European home for the Blues but desire remains to see the club challenging the ever-growing English powerhouses that lockout the top four.

Sasha Ryazantsev certainly wants those dreams to become a reality amidst Everton’s big plans for the future.

As Ryazantsev, Everton’s finance chief, has said: "Sometimes it's good to be a trailblazer but when you're not first, you can learn from others' mistakes.”

Learning from the mistakes of clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur, who have been forced to delay and delay their new stadium after safety concerns were raised, will ensure when Everton break ground on Merseyside's Bramley-Moore Dock site they will be doing so with less risk.

Awareness of other issues, like West Ham’s crowd troubles after moving to the London Stadium, will also mean when doors open at the club’s new home they will have protocol in place to avoid similar scenes.

A move to a new stadium can put a financial strain on a club’s resources, ask Arsenal and Tottenham, but at Everton a new home is viewed as a chance to close the gap to the elite clubs currently with a stranglehold on the Champions League spots.

"We see it as an opportunity to close the gap on the top six and the stadium itself will create a huge amount of new life," Ryazantsev said.

"It will breathe new life into the team, create new jobs in the area and be worth one billion pounds of economic value to the city."

Calls for a new stadium at Everton is nothing new, with plans muted ever since the early 1990s. These never made much progress, though, and often found themselves scrapped not long after.

Majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri, who last month increased his ownership stake in the club from 49.9 per cent to 68.6 per cent, certainly wants to deliver on his plans to answer the calls for a new home for his club.

The long-term project won’t see the finish line for several years yet, but more progress is being made having already agreed on the 200-year lease of the Bramley-Moore Dock.

Creating a river-side stadium certainly will keep the supporter groups happy, having previously achieved success in fending off a move out of the city.