Having decided to walk away from Everton just days after pledging again his commitment to the club and it’s project, is Carlo Ancelotti going to try and prise away two of the Toffees biggest players?
After abruptly deciding to leave Everton in the lurch by suddenly reneaging on his contract and joining Real Madrid, there have been rumours that Ancelotti wants to sign several Blues players.
First of all were stories that the Italian would come back for the two South American attackers James Rodriguez and Richarlison.
The rumours about these two, particularly Rodriguez, make sense as both players enjoyed having the Italian as their manager.
The Colombian of course only came to Goodison Park because Ancelotti was in the dugout so it did seem likely that if he left, Rodriguez would also seriously consider his future.
And Richarlison was apparently also reflecting on what the Italian’s departure would mean and having made cryptic comments about going last summer, he may well push for a move away during this transfer window.
Now the stories are focussing on the future of the Blues English centre-forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin with claims Ancelotti wants to bring him to Spain as well.
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After the departure of Ancelotti Calvert-Lewin’s future was also thrown into more doubt as this followed other rumours that Premier League clubs like Manchester United are interested in him.
These stories were obviously very speculative in nature and didn’t seem very likely with United probably more interested in other strikers like Harry Kane.
Then he clarified his situation and said he was staying.. for now.
The Toffees seem unlikely to sell Calvert-Lewin, although a fee of around £50-60 million would be a big sum to reinvest, providing of course you can find a good replacement.
Now though Ancelotti might be willing to test Everton’s resolve to keep hold of the England international as he looks to rebuild Los Blancos. He certainly expressed a lot of support for him when he was at Goodison so maybe he thinks Calvert-Lewin could thrive at the Bernabeu.
While I can see Rodriguez returning to Madrid, after all as everyone knows he was only here for his father-figure coach Ancelotti and to be honest he never felt like a natural fit for Everton. In addition, he might anyway have a clause in his contract that allows him to return for free to Real.
But I reckon the Blues will be very reluctant to do business with Ancelotti after what he has done leaving Everton in crisis with his hugely disruptive and disrespectful behaviour.