Ancelotti drops hint Everton won’t be shopping in January

The New Year sales are traditionally a time for shoppers to try and pick up a bargain, but after comments today it looks less likely that Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti will be one of them.

The Everton manager has been speaking about the latest injury problem that has afflicted his squad as Fabian Delph is out for weeks after picking up an injury in the 1-1 draw at Burnley.

Ancelotti says he feels he has enough depth in his current squad to cope with the relentless run of fixtures in the run-up to Christmas and into January. He seems to be hinting that he’s not looking to sign anyone new in the upcoming transfer window.

This comment will surprise many Toffees supporters who probably wouldn’t share the Italian’s apparent confidence in his reserves!

Players like Gylfi Sigurdsson, Bernard and indeed Delph himself have not exactly set the Premier League alight over the past few campaigns and too often their performances have been pretty underwhelming to put it mildly.

Given that, Evertonians won’t be feeling confident that these players can step up and deliver if or when they are needed over the upcoming weeks. And with the Blues chronic bad luck with injuries it seems very likely they will be.

We been covering the many and various names being mentioned and linked with a move to Everton in January, so will Ancelotti ignore all of them?

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Looking at the squad all areas of the team in truth  need strengthening, in part because of the endless number of injuries.

The most obvious one of immediate concern is full-back. With Delph now joining the player he was filling in for, Lucas Digne, on the long-term injury list and the other full-back Seamus Coleman still recovering from his latest problem and injury-prone, do the Toffees have enough cover there?

The recent emergence of Alex Iwobi as a right-sided wing or full-back might provide the answer as cover for Coleman.

But it doesn’t seem as though Ancelotti is going to give Niels Nkounkou a chance at left-back and that only leaves Ben Godfrey or at a stretch maybe Mason Holgate.

Both can fill in defensively in the short-term, but don’t have the attacking instincts required for that position, especially not if the boss is going to stick to a 3-4-3 formation.

Another area of concern is central midfield. The Blues lack enough quality options there in support of Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure if Andre Gomes, the first-choice, isn’t playing well. He was back in the side on Saturday because of Delph’s injury so let’s hope he can maintain his place.

Ancelotti mentioned the possibility of Jean-Philippe Gbamin returning to action sooner rather than later after his eighteen months of enforced absence. That would at least give him further options and some additional defensive strength in the middle.

Finally up front Everton lack any comparable cover for their two South American forwards James Rodriguez or Richarlison, especially the Brazilian whose absence recently was keenly felt. There have been plenty of links to other attacking players recently.

Well we don’t have long to wait until that January window and we’ll see very soon if indeed Ancelotti is going to keep his powder dry and put his faith in the existing group of players.