Football news - Carlo Ancelotti's Everton: Two January moves, his tactics and why he chose Goodison

ByJames Gray

Updated 21/12/2019 at 18:21 GMT

Carlo Ancelotti will be in the stands at Goodison Park today after being confirmed as the new manager of Everton.

With Everton currently 16th in the league, the former Real Madrid, Chelsea, PSG, AC Milan, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Napoli manager will have his work cut out on Merseyside.

But how will the legendary Italian approach resurrecting the Toffees and what will his side look like? We asked Eurosport Italy's Matteo Zorzoli to give us the lowdown.

So it's really happening - Ancelotti to Everton. None of us saw it coming, but is he really in this for the right reasons?

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Yes - he would only have accepted this job for a long-term project. It will be a challenge for him. The last experience at Napoli, with the misunderstandings, the inevitable final controversies and the sacking, convinced him that, if there is no identity of views with those who manage the club, no goal is reached.

At Everton, with the help of the management, he could finally create his own team and challenge the top of Premier League. He could show to the world that David can beat Goliath. He never hid that the Premier League is the league he prefers, much more than Liga and Serie A.

And then there's the economic aspect too: he could make £4million before the end of the season, as some tabloids say, a salary fit for a king.

The English media think Ancelotti does not have much experience of building a team, more improving already successful ones. Is that fair?

It depends on the environment and on the players. Except at the beginning of his career, Ancelotti has always coached top-level teams with a big owners behind them. The latest adventure in Naples, like the one in Munich, ended with bad feelings with the management and with the players, but not for footballing reasons, so they were not failures.

What can we expect from him in terms of tactics?

Historically, Ancelotti adapts himself to the team he trains, avoiding upsetting the work done by the previous coach.

Over the years he has gone from Milan's 4-3-2-1 (in Italy, "The Christmas tree"), with which he won everything, to Bayern Munich's 4-3-3 inherited from Pep Guardiola until the last 4-4-2 with Naples. He's a chameleon coach.

Napoli midfielder Piotr Zielinski could be high up on Ancelotti's priorities in January

Image credit: Getty Images

And what about transfers?

There are three names that matter here: Moise Kean, Piotr Zielinski and Alessandro Florenzi.

Zielinski is among the most used players by "Carletto", and he could be one of the requests of the new coach for the Everton board. For a long time, Zielinski has been talking about a contract renewal in Naples, but speeches that have not yet led to a "white smoke" so the failed agreement has fuelled the rumors of a possible departure.

Ancelotti's arrival on the Toffees' bench could also change the future of Kean. Director of football Marcel Brands has an excellent relationship with Kean and his family and would hardly want to deprive himself of the player, especially with the eventual landing of Ancelotti, who is so capable of growing young talents, just as he did with Hernan Crespo, Kakà, Andrea Pirlo, Kingsley Coman.

Finally, right-back Florenzi is likely to leave Roma in January and following Ancelotti in England could give him new motivation.

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