Will starstruck Everton never learn? Carlo Ancelotti is a vanity project

For a man who once described the North West as the ‘Hollywood of football’, this would represent nirvana.

Farhad Moshiri, Everton’s erratic major shareholder, likes the fine things in life and appointing the urbane Carlo Ancelotti would be the kind of bold statement he likes to make. 

The Italian is football royalty, a three-time Champions League-winning manager, and must be afforded maximum respect.

Majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri likes the fine things in life and this is another example

Yet appointing Ancelotti would be another sign that Moshiri never learns. There is excitement among Evertonians about the prospect of the 60-year-old turning up at Goodison Park but their club is at a juncture where no more mistakes can be made.

You may have read Matt Barlow’s excellent analysis of Ancelotti last week and he articulated why he is not a man to rebuild and revamp a club. Ancelotti applies the finishing touches and makes top players feel a million dollars. He doesn’t drag listing clubs into the elite.

None of this seems to matter to Moshiri, who is pursuing Ancelotti with stars in his eyes. It is the equivalent of rushing out before Christmas to buy the most expensive piece of tinsel when you haven’t got a tree.

Ancelotti is a manager who applies the finishing touches to a side, he doesn’t pick players up

Moshiri is doing things at the moment that leave you asking more and more questions. 

The Iranian billionaire has taken control of this hunt for Marco Silva’s replacement, so what are the implications for Marcel Brands, Everton’s director of football?

Brands, who was appointed at considerable expense from PSV Eindhoven in 2018 to replace the dismal Steve Walsh, should be driving this process, utilising his contacts book and knowledge to find a young, hungry manager with whom he could work hand in hand.

Everton, under Moshiri, have made a succession of bad — not to mention expensive — decisions (£40million severance pay in four years alone) and the money that is being proposed in the pursuit of Ancelotti equates to a king’s ransom with the moon and stars for good measure.

All the money in the world, though, cannot buy a magic wand and Everton, who have spent the last three seasons bouncing around mid-table, will not suddenly be propelled into the reaches where they are challenging Liverpool and Manchester City. 

They have spent heavily on players who are not good enough for too long and the squad will need pruning. That task, however, will not be easy because Everton have paid huge contracts, the kind that certain individuals would not stand a chance of getting anywhere else.

Moshiri’s pursuit of Ancelotti also demonstrates that he is prepared to keep spending lavishly

Everton need to be stripped back. Moshiri should have realised the day that he watched Duncan Ferguson conjure a performance against Chelsea 11 days ago what this proud club is all about: endeavour and fight.

Another thing to remember is they have historically been at their best when the manager and players have had something to prove. Everton is a club that should propel careers forward, not be regarded as a destination for one last payday.

This is not suggesting Ancelotti is only motivated by money. You have to question, nonetheless, how hungry he would be to take on a project such as Everton, one where the rewards on the pitch might not be quickly attained.

There is nothing wrong with ambition — Everton lacked it for a spell in the late 1990s and what a miserable place it was — but there is also a time for common sense. Moshiri needs to look at the bigger picture and understand what is required. He doesn’t need to pursue a vanity project.