Lotti numbers must add up
LET TOFFEES BOSS DO WHAT HE DOES BEST
CARLO ANCELOTTI promised evolution not revolution at Everton this summer.
The Italian coach was brought to Merseyside to roll back the years to more successful times.
This, after all, is a man who has spent 25 years in management, working with some of the great names of world football from Paolo Maldini, Kaka and Didier Drogba to Cristiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robert Lewandowski.
He has added Everton to a list of previous clubs that includes Juventus, AC Milan, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris St-germain and Chelsea. He is managerial royalty.
But so far this pre-season his plans to engineer change at Goodison Park are still on hold – for a number of reasons.
Everton are no different from most clubs who are wary of the financial implications of the pandemic.
Without paying punters, income is down and therefore keeping on top of the accounts is more difficult and with no European football, the Toffees are more reliant on gate receipts than some of their Premier League rivals. However, the club appointed Ancelotti and promised him the backing to challenge for European places, the 61-yearold making it clear the current squad will not be able to do that.
Midfield is a key area he wants to improve.
He has informed the hierarchy that Napoli’s Brazil star Allan is the one he wants but he won’t come cheap at around £36m. Watford’s Abdoulaye Doucoure could be a consideration, while talks have also taken place about Atletico Madrid rightback Santiago Arias.
But Everton cannot afford to waste money in the market this summer as even before a virus wrecked the world economy they had too many misses on investments under owner Farhad Moshiri.
Davy Klaassen, Cenk Tosun, Yerry Mina and Andre Gomes are all players who cost decent money and who could have produced more. None of that was Ancelotti’s doing but he is the one who now has to find a way to rebuild.
The Toffees boss said ideally he wanted new faces in before pre-season training began but that has not been easy given the current circumstances.
Time will tell if he can transform a club that has fallen on hard times in terms of silverware. If he can pull it off, then it will rank with any of Ancelotti’s achievements.
Management is a harsh mistress and judgement comes from nothing more than results.
Everton are at a crossroads and the decision whether or not to back Ancelotti to the hilt could determine what happens on Merseyside for years to come.