Windass believes Ancelotti can land Bale for Everton
Former Premier League forward Dean Windass believes that Carlo Ancelotti has enough pull to land Gareth Bale for Everton this summer.
Journalist Eduardo Inda (via Diario Madridista) reported Everton’s interest in the Real Madrid forward earlier this week, with the club said to be keen on landing the Wales international on a free transfer.
Currently on a season-long loan deal with Tottenham, Bale isn’t set to remain in London beyond the end of the season and Madrid are believed to be keen to offload him to free up wages this summer.
Speaking to This Is Futbol, former Bradford and Hull striker Windass claimed that Ancelotti’s prestige is large enough to attract a player of Bale’s calibre to Goodison Park this summer.
Windass said: “If you said to me Everton were signing him without Ancelotti, I would have probably said no. But Ancelotti is a big pull, he’s been around football for a long time and managed some of the biggest clubs in the world.
“So if he comes calling, it’s up to Gareth, footballers hold all the cards, managers don’t. So, if that conversation has come around.”
Everton’s pursuit of a right-winger this summer has been highly publicised, and Bale is the just the latest high profile player to be linked with a Merseyside switch.
Pipe dream?
Carlo Ancelotti’s reputation as one of the finest managers in Europe has helped Everton secure talent in the not-so-distant past, with Allan and James Rodriguez signing last summer for the manager and the manager alone.
However that doesn’t mean that Ancelotti’s name on its own will be good enough every single time Everton punch above their weight in the transfer market.
Recently labelled an ‘outstanding‘ player by Tottenham’s interim boss Ryan Mason, Bale is a player capable of playing at the very top level of European football, and Everton currently cannot offer him that.
Without Champions League football the Blues are blunted in the transfer market, and without any European football at all potentially the club will be further hamstrung when it comes to making signings that will improve the club on and off the pitch.
Additionally Bale’s wages are likely astronomical, what with him being a former most expensive player in the world and all, and that could also price Everton out of a move unless he were to take a sizeable cut.
Though Bale might admire Ancelotti as a manager, we just can’t see the stars aligning in any way that would see Bale move to Merseyside this summer.
In other Everton news, ‘Big one’ – Ex-Blues pundit backs record-breaking striker for Goodison Park move amid bid claims.
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