Everton director of football Marcel Brands is set to leave the club, according to reports.

The Dutchman has been at Goodison Park since the summer of 2018 and has been involved in the Toffees spending close to £300million during that period.

It has failed to translate into on-field success, however, and with Everton struggling this season Brands is expected to be relieved of his duties.

He only signed a new three-year deal in April but poor recruitment in the past saw current boss Rafael Benitez able to spend just £1.7million this summer, with financial fair play restrictions hitting the Merseyside outfit hard.

After a strong start to the campaign, Everton’s form has nosedived due to a mixture of injuries and a lack of suitable options with the Toffees’ midweek defeat to Liverpool sparking angry scenes at Goodison Park.

Supporters turned their frustration on the board and director of football Brands after the 4-1 loss and the 59-year-old is now likely to depart.

Boss Benitez had spoken in his pre-match press conference ahead of Monday’s match with Arsenal about how his remit was to improve the players at his disposal but stressed the importance of the upcoming January transfer window.

“Everyone in the business knows the money has been spent but at the moment, we have to be sure we can improve these players,” the Spaniard said.

“If we don’t want to sell players, we don’t need to. If we sell players, it is because we want to sell players.

“I think the players appreciate we are trying to improve and that is what we will do until the end. We have been working on January and talking about options.

“Our market is clear: there are players you can get and players you cannot – that’s the reality. We need to know these players want to come.”