Torino defender Niels Nkounkou has named Carlo Ancelotti as the best manager he’s worked under, having been with the Italian at Everton.
[Gazzetta dello Sport](https://www.gazzetta.it/) have an interview with the defender today. He’s on loan with Torino from Eintracht Frankfurt.
The Frenchman is looking to get his career back on track after a rocky few years following his time at Everton.
He was actually the Italian’s first signing at Goodison Park, arriving in a €270,000 deal from Marseille. Ancelotti saw something in him, handing him a debut in the Premier League when he was just 20-years-old. That came in a 2-1 defeat to Newcastle.
Nkounkou went on to make five more appearances under the Italian before Ancelotti left to rejoin Real Madrid in 2021.
The now 24-year-old remained and went on various loan deals before departing permanently for Saint-Etienne in 2023. Two months later he joined Eintracht Frankfurt in a €7.5m deal. His time in Germany so far has not been a success and he’s now trying out Italy, with Torino.
That’s led him to being asked about Ancelotti, who it seems he still considers highly from his time at Everton with him.
_“With him, I tried to work hard, both defensively and offensively, to improve my skills,”_ he said.
_“I think he’s been the coach who’s helped me the most so far. After every session, we’d throw a few crosses for the centre-forwards._
_“He’d say I have a good left foot but that I should work on it and improve. We tried a lot of things, a lot of positions. And then crosses, crosses, crosses, for like 10-15 minutes every day. My role model? Marcelo, the best I’ve seen in the world in my position.”_