Roberto Martinez believes that his Everton side will have the perfect pre-season ahead of the new Premier League campaign; due to the fact there are no major tournaments this summer.
This time last year the Toffees boss had England trio Phil Jagielka, Ross Barkley and Leighton Baines as well as USA goalkeeper Tim Howard away on World Cup duty in Brazil.
This time around only John Stones and Luke Garbutt, who has recently received a new contract offer from the Goodison Park club, are away with England for the European Under 21 Championships in the Czech Republic.
Martinez admits that having an almost full squad at his disposal from the outset of pre-season can only be an advantage going into the new campaign.
He told Everton TV: “Last season was probably the worst case scenario when you are preparing for the new season and players are only just coming back from the World Cup.
“It’s not just the time you need to allow players to recover and regenerate, it’s the mental fatigue they bring into their club form and then how long it takes to get back to their normal level.
“This pre-season is going to be a little bit shorter because the start of the season is starting to reflect the way the calendars are going to adjust in order to fulfill the Qatar World Cup.
“There are still limitations but in the same way it is quite refreshing that there isn’t a major tournament to have to deal with.”
Martinez also plans to take a strong squad with him to Singapore to compete for the Barclays Asia Trophy this summer as the perfect build up for the big kick off on August 8th. Arsenal, Stoke City and a Singapore select XI will take part in the friendly tournament, which begins on July 15th.
