Former Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti. Picture: PETER POWELL/POOL/AFP via Getty Imagesplaceholder image
Former Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti. Picture: PETER POWELL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images | POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Everton are a club on an upward trajectory with former boss Carlo Ancelotti looking forward to returning to Merseyside.
When Carlo Ancelotti was appointed Everton manager more than a few eyebrows were raised when one of world football’s greatest ever bosses arrived on Merseyside.
The Champions League winning boss has a long and illustrious career both on the pitch and in the dugout, and yet his time in charge at Goodison Park will always hold a place in his heart.
The veteran Italian wasn’t quite being asked to cut costs and make do with what he had, however, the Covid-19 pandemic sorely impacted whatever the board’s plans were for Ancelotti to take the club to the next level.
Carlo Ancelotti makes Everton return vow
Despite failing to achieve what he wanted to, subsequent years suggest that Ancelotti performed admirably as manager and that he should be far from disappointed with his tenure. That the 2020/21 season saw Everton spend the festive period in second place after a string of fine results, including away wins against Liverpool and Arsenal, only to finish in 10th, shouldn’t be regarded as a failure given the disparity of resources.
Speaking in an interview with Ally McCoist for TNT Sports, Ancelotti was asked if he enjoyed his time managing Everton: “I loved the period at Everton. It was a difficult period because it was Covid there, but I have a good memory of the environment there and I’m looking always to the result of Everton.
“I know that Moyes now is doing a fantastic job. They have a new stadium, and one day I will be there to support Everton in their new stadium.”
Ancelotti is a legend of the game and will always be welcome at the Hill Dickinson stadium, another time or another era and he could well have been the right man to help Everton progress.
Ancelotti was the Everton manager for less than two seasons and already had AC Milan, Paris Saint Germain, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Chelsea and Napoli on his CV, a who’s who of European football, collecting league titles in five different countries and five Champions League trophies to on his way to 31 major trophies as a manager. His place in the echelons of managerial greats is well-deserved.
Who was Carlo Ancelotti’s best signing for Everton?
At Everton, he found an ambitious club, but one that didn’t have the finances to match their dreams with only seven players being signed in the three transfer windows where Ancelotti was in charge.
There needed to be more hits than misses and in Abdoulaye Doucoure, Ben Godfrey and Josh King, he acquired three players who were honest and hard-working professionals even if they didn’t quite fulfil their potential. In James Rodriguez, Ancelotti hoped to have landed the star dust needed to carry Everton to higher heights but it never quite happened. Six goals and nine assists in 26 appearances is more than respectable, it is just a shame that the Colombia legend couldn’t stay fit or for longer.
The best signing of Ancelotti’s reign proved to be a bargain with Jarrad Branthwaite arriving as a fresh-faced teenager from Carlisle United for around £1m. Once he found his massive feet, the towering stopper has been a mainstay in Everton’s starting XI and is now valued at over £75m. Currently recovering from hamstring surgery, he will be like the proverbial new signing when he returns in the new year.
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