The Toffees have faced a difficult transfer window as the club strive to attract and bring in the new talent that David Moyes needs to rebuild and transform the team.
A significant number of the first-team squad departed at the end of June, meaning a massive amount of work was required to add numbers, alongside the need for better quality talent.
Everton's recruitment in this window has been solid enough, although none of the previous signings really grabbed supporters and have massively raised expectations, except perhaps for Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall from Chelsea.
So, fans were still waiting for a breakthrough in attracting the very top-grade talent, those who are considered genuine world-class superstars.
When the transfer window opened, there was talk in the media that the Blues were looking to make a "statement signing" this summer.
There was a sense that, for too long, the Toffees had been operating in the lower end of the transfer market and that had to change if desperately needed progress was going to be made under the new owners.
However, the club's recent struggles on the pitch over the last few seasons, a consequent lack of European football, and the much-publicised financial problems that have dogged Everton are all likely factors in deterring the best players from coming to the blue half of Merseyside.
And so it proved over the course of this summer window, much to Moyes' frustration, with a host of top-level players linked, but none signing on the dotted line, despite owners with cash to spend and the attraction of a brand new state-of-the-art stadium.
Jack Grealish was one of those high-profile talents that Everton were tracking over the last month or so, and as time ticked on, the story seemed likely to end the same way. Now, though, with the arrival of the former England star, perhaps things are really changing.
The former Aston Villa youth product is a player on a level that, in the recent past, the Blues would not have been considered capable of signing.
He is a genuine star and has won the Premier League and the Champions League, and will hopefully help the Toffees make more breakthroughs in the transfer market and draw other top-class players to the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Grealish's impact might be just as important off the pitch as well. Having brought in a top-level player with international recognition could generate a much-needed increase in the club's profile and, consequently, its revenue-raising capability.
However, there are potential downsides to this headline-grabbing deal.
Of course, everything ultimately depends on whether Grealish can find that elusive best form which seems to have deserted him over the last year or so and saw him increasingly left out of Pep Guardiola's team.
The question is, was this a consequence of Manchester City's tactics as Guardiola looks to find a new edge and looks to alter his side again, or is it a result of the player's own declining powers?
When Grealish was at Villa, he was playing in a much more flexible free role, allowing him to operate as the attacking focal point in a team that was often playing counter-attacking football.
This was not City's style of play and is more the sort of tactical approach that Everton play and have done for a long time, and are likely to play, at least some of the time, under Moyes going forward.
So, we have to hope this will be the route going forward and we see a re-born Grealish helping the Toffees push towards the upper echelons of the Premier League. This could represent a turning point and a long-awaited upward curve in Everton's fortunes.