It’s rare you see Carlo Ancelotti handing out criticism, but he was not afraid to call out this former Everton player.
When Ancelotti is spoken about, you always associate the Italian with respect.
He carried this attitude throughout his time with Everton, and it’s clear that Ancelotti was sad to see Goodison Park go.
His tenure came as a surprise but he flourished in the short time he was there, without much conflict at all.
This is a rare occurrence for an Everton manager in recent times, as toxicity has emerged, but Ancelotti did have one run-in with a former Toffees star, which didn’t end well.
Photo by PAUL ELLIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Photo by PAUL ELLIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Carlo Ancelotti publicly criticised Alex Iwobi at Everton
With the Italian icon flourishing in his first full season in 2020/21, a sense of unity was in the squad.
This comes as no surprise with Ancelotti being one of the greatest man managers, and he developed a close relationship with the club as a whole, with Ancelotti admitting he’s a ‘true Everton fan’.
But as mentioned it wasn’t all plain sailing for the Real Madrid boss who came across a confrontation with Alex Iwobi.
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Iwobi described Ancelotti’s aura as ‘crazy’, so there was respect between the two, but Iwobi did something foolish, which the Italian called him out for.
During the 20/21 season, Iwobi posted a now deleted social media message saying: “Always an honour to get a call up to my national team. Hopefully I get to play in my preferred position.”
Ancelotti was known to rarely criticise his players in public, but he was baffled at Iwobi’s comments, speaking in a press conference in 2021.
“I read the post. I want to speak to him, of course,” said Ancelotti.
“I want to know his preferred position because usually I want to put a player on the pitch where they are comfortable to play, not where they are uncomfortable to play.
“If he has an idea of where he prefers to play, I have to know, I want to know.”
Now, after four years, Iwobi has finally revealed the talks he had with Ancelotti.
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With the now-Fulham midfielder playing his best football, Iwobi enjoyed a fairly positive spell at Goodison.
It’s safe to say the confrontation with Ancelotti put the Italian out of the running for the Nigerian’s favourite manager, as Iwobi loved Lampard at Everton.
But Iwobi has come clean to the Inside Scoop and has admitted he was ‘childish’, but at the time he claimed his ‘head was gone’.
“I was frustrated. Probably should’ve handled myself better,” Iwobi said.
“At that time, my head was gone. It was a bit childish.
“He (Ancelotti) said to me, Where do you play? I told him I like number ten, he tried me in one game against Burnley, and we lost 2-0.
“After 45 minutes, he said ‘Alex, get back on the wing’ and in the second half, I got taken off.”
It was certainly a lesson learnt for Iwobi, who is now playing excellently under Marco Silva, as he’s turned from slightly underwhelming at Everton to one of the best playmakers.
Despite his callout, Ancelotti knew he was doing what was right for Iwobi, and it seems as though there are no hard feelings.