Roberto Martinez has denied a deal is already in place to sign Tom Cleverley but said Everton are looking to add to their squad this summer.
Cleverley, currently on a season-long loan at Aston Villa, will see his Manchester United contract expire in the summer and .
The England international, who played under Martinez at Wigan, had but it appears the deal could be revived.
It has even been claimed that an agreement is already in place, but Martinez said the club's form during the run-in would determine their transfer plans.
"No, that's not true," . "Tom is a player I know really well. We know the positions that we need to strengthen in the summer. We've worked really hard since January to identify those targets but a lot of decisions will depend on how we perform in the last seven games. It's going to be a very important end of season for us in order to allow us to make the right decisions for the summer."
Everton have also faced speculation over the likes of Ross Barkley, Kevin Mirallas and Romelu Lukaku -- whose -- but Martinez said he was not concerned about the prospect of departures.
"We have a group of players here who are focused on becoming successful with Everton so there are no problems keeping them," he said. "My focus is to make sure we bring in two or three players to step up a level and become stronger."
While a run of three successive wins has all but ensured their Premier League safety, Everton have endured a difficult season, even if they did reach the Europa League's round of 16.
Despite their struggles, they have kept faith with Martinez's favoured style of football and given youngsters like Luke Garbutt the chance to impress, and the Everton boss feels players will still be keen to join the club as a result.
"Within football, losing or winning doesn't affect players -- it's how you lose and I think every player who's faced Everton this season will have come out with a real respect and a real appreciation of the way we play as a club," he said.
"We don't rely on 10 months of results. We've got a bigger picture of what we're trying to achieve and what we've got in the squad, particularly in terms of the younger players who have been given incredible roles.
"I think the perception of Everton has improved in the last 12 months. What we achieved in Europe has allowed that to happen. I see reports in Spain, France and other countries and the perception of us has improved in Europe."
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