Everton may have hit the jackpot in the coaching carousel as it looks for a replacement for Marco Silva.
According to our partners Sky Sports in the UK, Everton has reached an agreement in principle to hire Carlo Ancelotti as it’s new manager. The latest developments come after reports that Ancelotti met with Everton owner Farhad Moshiri in London, with the two sides hammering out a deal through the night.
BREAKING: Carlo Ancelotti has agreed a deal in principle to become the next Everton manager, Sky Sports News understands
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) December 16, 2019
Should Everton hire Ancelotti, it would be the highest-profile coach the club has had since Howard Kendall, who led the Toffies to two Football League titles in the 1980s.
If true, this would represent a massive coup for Everton, but also ratchet up the pressure on the club. Despite spending tens of millions of dollars in the transfer market over the past few seasons to improve the squad, Everton has continued to underperform against expectations.
With Ancelotti, it will be his first test not coaching a giant club since his first coaching job in 1995 with Serie B Reggiana. Since then, Ancelotti coached Parma, Juventus, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and of course, Chelsea.
He was fired by Napoli last week in the midst of an up-and-down season that has seen players have a mutiny against upper management, with Ancelotti helpless to stop it.
Ultimately, the fact that Ancelotti picked Everton says a lot about the state of the Big 6 right now, with Arsenal’s job open and Manchester United’s potentially open, should the club’s form overall not improve.
Ancelotti has the chance to get a player like Gylfi Sigurdsson back to his best, and to also see more from players like Richarlison, Yerry Mina, Moise Kean, and Alex Iwobi. But at the same time, it raises expectations for the club. After this season, should Everton finish outside of the fluid top seven, and at least qualify for Europe, it could be considered a disappointment to many fans, considering Ancelotti’s background.
