Why NOT go for Ancelotti? It shows Everton mean business

EvERToN were in for Wilfried Zaha in the summer and everyone had a good laugh about that. Why would Zaha go to Goodison Park when there was the chance of a move to Arsenal or Chelsea?

To which, two words: Carlo Ancelotti. If Everton renew their interest this January, they now have a unique selling point: three Champions League titles, the domestic crown in Italy, England, France and Germany, four domestic cups, three European Super Cups and the Club World Cup twice. Against nearly winning promotion with derby and looking smart sitting next to Pep Guardiola.

So the only question, really, is why not? If Everton can get

Ancelotti, why not? If Everton can change their status overnight, why not?

Rewind to 1991 and don Mackay was doing a decent job as manager of Blackburn Rovers.

The club had narrowly missed out on promotion from division Two, and now had Jack Walker’s millions behind them, but the project lacked credibility.

That arrived in october with the appointment of Kenny dalglish. Blackburn’s fortunes changed.

Suddenly, they were to be taken seriously. Alan Shearer came. Graeme Le Saux, david Batty, Tim Flowers and Chris Sutton followed. Blackburn needed dalglish to make that leap.

And it was easier then, yes. The Premier League was in its infancy, the super clubs had not yet formed. All the more reason for Everton to make a statement.

Bringing in Ancelotti shows they mean business, just as it did when Leicester recruited Brendan Rodgers, or Tottenham replaced Mauricio Pochettino with Jose Mourinho. It does not guarantee success but it sends a message about where Everton want to go.

No club that employs Ancelotti is happy treading water.

They have, after all, tried it the conventional way.

They’ve had Wigan’s manager, Watford’s manager, Southampton’s manager. They’ve employed Sam Allardyce. None of this has made a dent on the elite. Maybe Ancelotti won’t either. Football is very protectionist. It is designed to be unfriendly to interlopers these days. Ancelotti will know that too. It is why his appointment is such a surprise.

Ancelotti moves between football’s elites. He takes stellar players who are underperforming, or where change is enforced, and buffs them until they shine. In Ancelotti’s last five jobs he has inherited two teams who were top of their league (Paris SaintGermain and Bayern Munich), two who were second (Napoli and Real Madrid) and Chelsea, who had finished third under interim boss Guus Hiddink. Everton are not the only gamblers here.

The worst to be said is that Ancelotti is only coming for the money and has no real ambition for the club. In which case, it is on him, not them. They are taking the man at his word, that he wants to do his best for Everton.

ANd if his promises are false, if he arrives disengaged and marking time until a better offer comes along, it will reflect poorly on the individual, not the club.

Everton are trying their utmost to break into the elite. What would it say if they could have got Ancelotti but delivered Sean dyche instead?

And dyche could be a very good Everton manager. So could Eddie Howe or Chris Wilder. Yet Everton have been down that path, they have been the reward for a coach who has over-achieved

elsewhere. Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman and David Moyes all made natural progress to Goodison Park.

This is why Ancelotti’s arrival seems random. Coaches of his standing do not pitch up at Everton, not when they can go to one of Europe’s big beasts.

Yet maybe Ancelotti cannot, right now. The most prestigious jobs in England are taken and Arsenal have looked elsewhere. There is only one top club in France, and Germany, and Ancelotti has worked at both of them. He has already coached at just about every major club in Italy and being a former manager of Real Madrid prohibits Barcelona.

And while Ancelotti (right) the manager is elitist, the man is anything but. His autobiography Preferisco La Coppa translates as ‘I prefer the cup’ but with a large pun intended.

Coppa is a cheap cut of Italian salume, made from the neck muscle of pigs.

This is a nod to Ancelotti’s upbringing on a farm but also to his working- class roots;

coppa being the food of the poor. Like fans, he enjoys the cup. Like the workers, he prefers the cheaper cold cuts. He’s not the type to look down his nose at Everton.

Does this guarantee it will work for him there? Of course not. He won’t have coached a more ordinary group in years and Everton are not a go-to destination for stellar talents, despite the Ancelotti name.

Yet Shearer said that one tip from Dalglish at Blackburn changed his game immeasurably for the better.

From Southampton to Blackburn he improved by one goal every two games. So why shouldn’t a coach as good as Ancelotti possess similar nuggets to pass on?

It’s not as if Everton have had wisdom to burn of late.