16, December 2019
Football: Ancelotti agrees ‘in principle’ to be new Everton manager 0
Carlo Ancelotti has reached “an agreement in principle” to become the next Everton manager, Sky Sports News reported Monday.
Ancelotti arrived in Merseyside earlier Monday, with Sky saying talks between the English Premier League club and the veteran Italian boss had “progressed well”.
The 60-year-old could be confirmed as the Goodison Park boss in succession to the sacked Marco Silva before Everton’s League Cup quarter-final against Leicester on Wednesday.
Ancelotti was himself dismissed as manager of Napoli last week despite taking the Italian club into the last 16 of the Champions League after they had slipped to seventh in the Serie A table.
If he is appointed, it would mean Ancelotti was returning for a second spell in English football after a two-year stint at Chelsea from 2009-11 that yielded a Premier League and FA Cup ‘double’ for the London club in his first season in charge.
Meanwhile former Everton striker Duncan Ferguson is set to continue as caretaker manager for Wednesday’s match at home to Leicester.
The Scot took over after Silva was sacked on December 5 and promptly oversaw a morale-boosting 3-1 win over Chelsea before guiding Everton to a 1-1 draw away to Manchester United on Sunday.
Ferguson, however, has distanced himself from taking the job on a full-time basis.
“Duncan Ferguson is to remain in caretaker charge of Everton for Wednesday night’s Carabao (League) Cup quarter-final against Leicester, the club can confirm,” said an Everton statement issued Monday.
Source: AFP
20, December 2019
Football: Arteta tasked with reviving troubled Arsenal 0
Mikel Arteta has been given the job of reviving the fortunes of Arsenal after he was appointed head coach of the English Premier League side on Friday.
The 37-year-old Spaniard, who played more than 100 games for the Gunners between 2011-16, signed a three-and-a-half year contract and ends a three-year stay as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City.
Arteta, who will be officially presented to the press later on Friday at 1700 GMT, replaces compatriot Unai Emery, who was sacked last month.
The former midfielder, who will sit in the stands for Saturday’s match against another of his former clubs Everton, faces a massive challenge, with Arsenal having won just once in 12 matches — beating West Ham under interim manager Freddie Ljungberg.
“This is a huge honour. Arsenal is one of the biggest clubs in the world,” Arteta said in a statement.
“We need to be competing for the top trophies in the game and that’s been made very clear to me in my discussions with Stan and Josh Kroenke (owner and club director, respectively) and the senior people from the club.
“We all know there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that but I am confident we’ll do it.
“I’m realistic enough to know it won’t happen overnight but the current squad has plenty of talent and there is a great pipeline of young players coming through from the academy.”
Head of football Raul Sanllehi said the club had interviewed other candidates before opting to pursue Arteta.
“We met several top-class candidates and Mikel stood out to every single one of us as the perfect person for us,” he said in a club statement.
“Mikel understands Arsenal Football Club and what it means to our fans around the world. We look forward to him getting down to work and bringing the best out of our squad as we work to get our season back on track.”
Source: AFP