Everton's Leighton Baines has admitted his side must not allow the Phil Jagielka transfer saga to affect the side's preparations.
The 26-year-old defender has said that two seasons ago the Toffees allowed the transfer of Joleon Lescott to Manchester City to play heavily on their minds, and was the cause of a slow start to their Premier League campaign.
Baines, speaking to the Mirror, commented: "I thought it was a bit of an excuse that we used, Joleon wasn't a bad egg or anything like that.
"It was probably the clubs actually who dragged it out to get the best deal for themselves. But we used it as an excuse at the time - some of us."
The Goodison Park outfit have been guilty of sluggish starts to their seasons of late and Baines hopes that whatever happens with Jagielka - who has been courted by Arsenal all summer - they will not allow lighting to strike twice.
"He's one of the top three or four defenders that the country's got. It's no surprise. But we'd like to hold on to him if we can.
"We've spoken about it [starting the season poorly] a lot, but we've just got to do it and stop talking about it.
"It has been an issue. But it's down to us to hit the nail on the head this time. We have to do something about it."