David Moyes has voiced his frustration at Everton's transfer deadline day mis-steps after being left with a threadbare squad, admitting he will now scour the free agent market for additions.
Everton look much weaker coming out of the summer window after a late move for Monaco striker Folarin Balogun collapsed -- due to what Moyes insisted was only a "problem in his medical" -- on the day that Iliman Ndiaye was sold to Manchester City.
Sources have told ESPN that Balogun's £40 million ($54m) move from AS Monaco fell through after the USMNT forward pulled the plug on the deal, after the two clubs had renegotiated following his medical.
Moyes has been left with only 18 outfield players, including just one recognised striker, and questions over how high they can aim given their lack of depth.
"Disappointed we didn't do more business, disappointed things didn't go our way in the end," Moyes said. "But sometimes in football you have to live with disappointments and we will and we'll move on.
"We're looking at the free agents' market but I want a team that can be at the top end and can challenge. The disappointment would be that I want to keep pushing on and for the players to believe we're going in the right direction."
Former Leicester star Jamie Vardy is one striker who Everton have been linked with.
Balogun travelled to Finch Farm on Tuesday but Everton identified a concern in his medical results and sought to renegotiate the deal with Monaco.
Although an agreement was found, sources said Balogun got cold feet and left without signing. Monaco chief executive Thiago Scuro said on Friday that Balogun was unhappy with the way he had been treated.
"There were lots of different bits to it. It wasn't anybody's fault," Moyes said. "Ultimately it happens in football a lot. The player had a problem in his medical and that was simply it. There's no other stories behind it, really. That's exactly what happened."
Everton had been in contention to qualify for Europe until a late dip in form last season, and Moyes will have been hoping to be in that conversation again this term.
Asked how he coped personally with the disappointment of events on Tuesday, the 63-year-old said: "Not very well. I'm getting too old now to be sitting around at the bottom end.
"I've said that to the players here when I came in. The job is that we challenge as close to the top end of the league as we can.
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"I've got to say, they've done a brilliant job of it last year, and I don't think we were expected to do so well as what we've done.
"I've got to hope that we can do that again. There might not be a great expectation on us at this moment in time, but behind the scenes I'm rallying them."
Only last week, Everton pulled out of the sale of academy prospect Harrison Armstrong to Nottingham Forest following fan outrage.
However, Moyes admitted the club had still needed to raise funds and that contributed to the decision to sell Ndiaye to City in a £65m deal.
"I don't do the financials here, it's not me who does it," he said. "But I think what you're saying is right, I think we were looking to get some money in and ultimately those things were getting talked about.
"We lost Illy, someone we definitely didn't want to lose. But sometimes it's quite difficult when the likes of Man City come along looking for your players.
"I've lost Wayne Rooney to Manchester United, I've lost Joleon Lescott and Jack Rodwell to Man City over the years. On this occasion unfortunately we lost Illy and we didn't want to lose Illy because we liked Illy a lot."
Information from PA and ESPN's Mark Ogden was used in this report.
