Ball has say on whether Ancelotti was a better Everton appointment than Arteta would’ve been
Everton are one of a number of Premier League teams who made the decision to change their managers around mid-season.
The Toffees were struggling mightily under former boss Marco Silva, and were very much on the brink of relegation trouble.
However, since Carlo Ancelotti was brought in they have skyrocketed up the Premier League table.
They are now threatening European football contention, such has been the turnaround under the Italian.
Prior to Ancelotti’s appointment at Goodison Park, though, there was talk of former Toffees captain Mikel Arteta taking the job. The Spaniard ended up at Arsenal, of course, with Ancelotti in at Everton.
Now, former Blues defender and ex teammate of Arteta’s, Michael Ball, has had his take on the Ancelotti v Arteta debate.
“Mikel’s an ex-teammate of mine and he’s a great footballing brain. He was a great player when I was alongside him and when he had the Everton shirt on, we all know what he had,” he wrote in his Liverpool Echo column.
“When we were looking for a new manager we might not have thought Ancelotti would be available, but fortunately he was and we managed to get him. And since he’s been here it’s been so far, so good. His experience has shown, perhaps the only thing Mikel lacked was that experience.”
Everything’s worked out alright, hasn’t it?
It certainly seems as if both teams ended up with the manager they needed at that particular time.
Arsenal needed a young, innovative former player to come in and revolutionise their tactics and re-motivate the squad.
Everton required a quality, experienced operator who could come in and provide a bit of extra class.
So they both got their desired managerial targets in the end. Yes, Arteta may have done well at Goodison, but no-one would swap Ancelotti for him at the moment.
In other Everton news, the Toffees are reportedly battling with a Premier League rival for a Manchester United star.