Carlo Ancelotti Targets Ciro Immobile as Part of Transfer Demands at Everton

Exclusive - Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti has asked for major backing in the transfer market from the club’s hierarchy if they want him to stay at Goodison Park for the long-term.

Ancelotti has also demanded to have a say in every transfer in or out of the club in order to build the squad he needs to meet his and the club’s ambitions.

Among the 61-year-old’s top targets this summer is Lazio striker Ciro Immobile, who has scored 34 goals with two games of the Serie A season remaining and could yet reach 40 in all competitions for the second time in the last three years.

A three-time Champions League winning coach with Milan and Real Madrid, Ancelotti was persuaded to take the Everton job in December by the big plans and ambitions presented to him by majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri, whose involvement with the Toffees since 2016 has yielded vast spending on transfers. So far, however, there has been little gain.

The 2019/20 season saw Everton drop back into the bottom half of the table with a disappointing 12th place finish and 90min has been informed that Ancelotti now considers the job to be even bigger than he first thought when he accepted the job just over seven months ago.

Ancelotti has already made it clear to Moshiri that big spending needs to happen. The aforementioned Immobile is a target, but it will take in excess of £50m to prise the Italy forward away from Lazio and the 30-year-old isn’t the only player Ancelotti wants to bring in.

Everton’s structure has seen director of football Marcel Brands oversee recruitment in recent seasons, but Ancelotti has demanded to be more involved in who comes and who goes. Moshiri has accepted this and has already informed Brands that will be the case moving forward.

Moshiri is also prepared to back Ancelotti this summer by making funds available on the condition that the former Chelsea boss turns that investment into a top six finish – Everton last finished in the top six when Roberto Martinez led the team to fifth in 2013/14 on a negative net spend.

A source confirmed to 90min, “Farhad has huge plans and Ancelotti is at the heart of everything they want to do, so when he asks to be move involved, it was inevitable and logical that he was going to agree to it.”

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