Could Ancelotti leave Everton

Stories circulating today claim that Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti is becoming very frustrated with the club’s continuing lack of progress in the transfer market. So could the Italian actually walk away from the Blues?

Well it seems like a wild idea at first, but Everton have lost out on both Pierre-Emile Hojberg and now Gabriel Magalhaes, who were supposedly two of his key targets this summer. Although it always seemed likely that Hojbjerg would join Spurs, which was his preferred destination.

Might Ancelotti be tempted to cut his losses and quit for pastures new? It’s very hard to be sure, obviously none of us have a window into his mind. He doesn’t need the money, so perhaps if he feels there is no way to move forward then he might.

I also think he underestimated just how bad many of the current players he has are, or at least how lacking in commitment and professionalism they are. The brief honeymoon period after Ancelotti arrived in December is now well and truly over and they have reverted back to type, as we saw again yesterday.

One thing we can say is that were he to walk away now, it would create huge upheaval and probably enormous bad feeling between the club and the fans, most of whom are firmly behind the Italian I think.

On a related issue, I do feel that the club do a very bad job of communicating with supporters generally. The only time you hear anything from the top brass, whether that’s Marcel Brands or chief executive Denise Barratt-Baxendale, is the occasional press release full of soothing language, which ultimately tells us nothing of substance.

I am getting frustrated as well with the apparent lack of progress being made to secure other critical targets such as Allan and the lack of information too.

His transfer is dragging on for so long I’m beginning to wonder whether it will ever come off. Getting him and other key targets has become even more important because of the failure to land Hojbjerg and Gabriel.

If the reason Everton didn’t get Gabriel, is that the club wouldn’t put another five or six million quid down, then that is very irritating and perplexing. Surely if Ancelotti really wanted the player then the club should have pulled out all the stops to get him?

After all, what’s the point in bringing in a manger of his credentials on the sort of eye-watering salary he has commanded, and then not backing him in the transfer market, after promising him they would do so?

Yes Financial Fair Play and the pandemic has altered the situation. However, to be honest I’m not sure FFP is really that important.

I’d rather the Blues took a hit like a European ban for a year and spend what is needed now, especially given it looks like that the Toffees aren’t likely to be in Europe anytime soon!

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Even a transfer ban for a year, if it meant getting in the players the manager wants. And after all the club could always appeal such a decision and as others have shown, might also win that appeal.

I said before this transfer window opened that I felt it was perhaps the most important one Everton have embarked on for many years.

I believe that if the club doesn’t get the right players in and substantially improve the team this summer, then it will be very difficult to regain competitiveness and progress in the Premier League. Time is short.

In some ways i think Ancelotti’s arrival is four or five years too late. If the Toffees had got him in 2016 say, then I’m sure Everton wouldn’t have wasted so much cash on so many mediocre players and would be competing for trophies and the top four by now.

Let’s just hope that he does stay the course and gets the players he wants this summer. Otherwise where the hell do Everton go if he does indeed walk away..?