Richarlison granted permission by Everton to play in Olympics

Everton kick-off their league programme on August 14 at home to Southampton, followed by matches against Leeds and Brighton but Richarlison, currently preparing for a Copa America semi-final with his country, would be entitled to a period of time off and may not realistically be available until September.

The club's pre-season preparations have already been impacted by England's progress to the semi-finals of Euro 2020, meaning goalkeeper Jordan Pickford and Dominic Calvert-Lewin were not able to report for the first day of pre-season on Monday.

Neither were Richarlison nor Colombia defender Yerry Mina, who has a Copa America semi-final against Argentina in midweek.

However, a number of players – including the likes of James Rodriguez, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Seamus Coleman, Fabian Delph, Mason Holgate, Ben Godfrey, Tom Davies, Michael Keane, Andre Gomes and Jean-Philippe Gbamin – attended the club's Finch Farm training complex to begin preliminary medical and fitness checks.

Benitez, who has already had phone calls with senior players, was present at the training ground but did not address the small group as a whole with more players still to come back as part of a staggered start.

Director of football Marcel Brands was, however, pictured speaking to a couple of players individually in the gym.

The first day back was a relatively short one as the players underwent with a series of fitness tests and assessments by the medical team but did not train outside.