New Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti dreamt of Liverpool job as Toffees announcement close

Posted Saturday, December 21, 2019 by Express.co.uk

New Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti dreamt of Liverpool job as Toffees announcement close (Image: GETTY)

Carlo Ancelotti, set to become Everton's new manager, previously dreamt of taking the Liverpool job.

Carlo Ancelotti is set to take over at Everton - but the Italian dreamt of taking the Liverpool job just a few years ago, per reports. Ancelotti is expected to be announced as the new manager at Goodison Park in the coming days.

The 60-year-old was only sacked by Napoli a week ago, in the aftermath of a Champions League win over Genk.

But he seems set for a quick return to management having agreed to replace Marco Silva, who was sacked earlier this month, on Merseyside.

It is thought he has agreed a three-and-a-half year deal worth around ￡11.5million-a-year to displace interim boss Duncan Ferguson on the Goodison touchline.

An announcement could be made before the end of the weekend, with Ancelotti likely to be in the stands for Saturday’s Premier League visit of Arsenal (12.30pm) when Ferguson will once again take the team.

But according to Calciomercato, the Everton hotseat is not the one Ancelotti wanted most on Merseyside.

They claim that after he was dismissed by Bayern Munich in September 2017, the veteran coach confided with journalists that he was keen to manage the Reds.

Liverpool, however, are still under the leadership of Jurgen Klopp, who took them to Champions League glory last term and is leading their charge towards a first league title since 1990 this season.

Ancelotti has previously shown his admiration for Liverpool and their supporters, saying while Napoli boss in December 2018: “Anfield is a beautiful stadium. The best stadium in the world for atmosphere and the people are really passionate.

“To play here it’s really exciting. Can my team handle the atmosphere? I hope so. I will be telling them to go out and enjoy it and my players are positive.

“Everyone wants to play at one of the best stadiums in the world.”

But his task now is to slowly but surely bridge the gap between Merseyside’s two top-flight teams - with the Blues having not won a derby since 2010, going winless in the last 20 meetings, and not beaten Liverpool at Anfield since 1999.

He will get an early chance to further up his popularity among the Everton fanbase when they take on their neighbours across Stanley Park in the third round of the FA Cup on Sunday January 5.

And Liverpool icon Jamie Carragher, an Everton fan growing up, expects Ancelotti’s remit to be to restore the club as a top-six team and end their 25-year wait for silverware.

The Sky Sports pundit said of the ex-Juventus, AC Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich boss: “I’m surprised that Ancelotti would take the Everton job, the position that they’re in in the league.

“I think for Everton to get a manager of the calibre of Ancelotti would be an unbelievable coup for them.”

And he added: “I think the job for any Everton manager is can they get them in and around the Champions League places, where they’re actually challenging?

“About 10 years ago Everton were in the position Spurs were, fifth or sixth. Spurs made that jump, got the new stadium, now almost recognised as a Champions League team.

“That’s where they’d like to be. They know how difficult that would be. I think the real target for Everton and realistically is can he get Everton to be a consistent top six club as they were under David Moyes?

“Could they maybe make that next step of winning a cup that Everton have gone so long without?

"I just hope, I’ll say this, the Hollywood manager they thought they were getting in Ronald Koeman, who I think is a good manager and has been a good manager, he didn’t suit Everton.

“He lacked that intensity for the club, that that club needs. That’d be my one worry with Ancelotti, with him having such a great career, the age he’s at now, coming back to a job he’s probably not done, certainly not for a long time, going back to the start of his career.

“That’d be my worry for Everton. In terms of CV, rightly so you’d want a man like that and I’m sure the Evertonians are ecstatic.”

Ancelotti’s first match in the dugout is expected to be the Premier League home game against Burnley on Boxing Day.