Premier League side Everton will have to find a new manager for the upcoming season after Carlo Ancelotti quit the project to return to Real Madrid. The legendary Italian manager’s stint with the Merseyside club lasted just a year-and-a-half after replacing Marco Silva at the helm of affairs.
In his two seasons at the club, the Toffees finished 12th and 10th showing no tangible progress other than the jump of a couple of spots. Their away record was impressive in the recently concluded season but the standard of football did not see a jump in quality and there was no defined structure that would excite fans or impress pundits.
Everton would have expected better in at least one of these departments and while the calibre of the manager is unquestionable, the exit might well be a boon in disguise.
Who could be the next Everton manager ahead of the 2021-22 season?
Let’s take a look at 5 managers who could replace Carlo Ancelotti at Everton and come in with reduced expectations and a little bit more freedom.
Graham Potter
Graham Potter has earned plaudits for the job he has done at Brighton even though his side finished 15th and 16th in his two seasons as manager of the club. What’s been most impressive about his two seasons with the Seagulls is that he has kept the side in the league while playing attractive football and often outplaying bigger clubs especially in the middle of the park.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola hailed Potter as the best English manager earlier this year praising the way his team play football. With players of better technical ability and flair, as well as a far bigger budget at Everton, we feel Graham Potter could take the Toffees further up the table while playing an attractive brand of football.
Eddie Howe
Another talented and promising young English manager is Eddie Howe, who is currently without a job, having left Bournemouth at the end of last season. Despite the Cherries getting relegated, Howe’s standing as a manager was not hurt tremendously given the goodwill and praise he had generated while guiding the Cherries to the top-flight.
Like Potter, Howe, too, prefers to play on the front foot, while having a little more experience at the top level than the Brighton manager. Howe was recently linked to the Celtic job, but talks between him and the Scottish club broke down. Howe seems to be ready to get back to management and Everton could be the perfect club for him.
Roberto Martinez
This summer has already seen a lot of manager movement, with two managers returning to their former clubs – Massimiliano Allegri to Juventus and Carlo Ancelotti to Real Madrid. We could very well see a third as Belgium manager Roberto Martinez has been linked with a return to Merseyside.
Martinez had three seasons with the Toffees, taking them to 5th in his first season, but the following seasons saw the side drop to 11th. The former Wigan manager guided Belgium to a third-place finish in the 2018 World Cup and is one of their most successful managers of all-time. It will be interesting to see if Martinez does return to Everton and what he can achieve with them.
Frank Lampard
One of the left-field choices that Everton could make is hiring former Chelsea manager Frank Lampard. The English manager has been linked with the vacant Crystal Palace job, but a move to the Toffees could interest Lampard more as the Toffees have better financial backing.
But, signing Lampard would be a huge gamble as he has very little managerial experience. He did do well in his first season as manager of Chelsea, but the second season was less than impressive. But, the advantage that Lampard has is that he will be given a lot more time at Everton than he was at Chelsea.
Duncan Ferguson
An outside choice to become the next Everton manager is Toffees legend and assistant manager, Duncan Ferguson. Reports have suggested that the Scotsman is keen on becoming the full-time manager, which would be his first managerial role.
Ferguson is a revered figure in the blue half of Merseyside, but with no senior managerial experience, this could be a huge risk. Unlike another club legend in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Manchester United, Ferguson has never been a full-time manager, but he was a caretaker manager before the appointment of Ancelotti.
The likes of former manager David Moyes and Wolves’ ex-manager Nuno Espírito Santo are other candidates for the vacant Everton job.
