Arsenal and Everton are set to meet with Carlo Ancelotti, who was sacked by Napoli on Tuesday night, as they continue to explore options for their next permanent manager.
Standard Sport first revealed the Gunners’ interest in the Italian back in January 2018, when breaking the news Arsene Wenger was likely to leave the club that summer.
Ancelotti was interested in the position at the time but ended up joining Napoli as it became clear Arsenal preferred Unai Emery, who was sacked less than two weeks ago after just 18 months in charge.
It is understood senior figures at Arsenal are hopeful interim boss Freddie Ljungberg will instigate a sufficient turnaround to become a serious contender to remain but in the meantime they are pursuing external candidates with more obvious credentials, including Patrick Vieira, Mikel Arteta, Marcelino and Massimiliano Allegri.
Ancelotti was surprisingly given the boot by Napoli just an hour after they sealed their place in the last 16 of the Champions League with a 4-0 home win over Genk.
The Italian club said in a statement: “The rapport of friendship, admiration and reciprocal respect between the club, its president [Aurelio De Laurentiis] and Carlo Ancelotti remain intact.”
Everton sacked Marco Silva last week and are keen to speak to Ancelotti after talks with Shanghai SIPG coach Vitor Pereira collapsed but the 60-year-old former Chelsea boss is thought to prefer a job in London and views the Gunners as a tempting proposition.
Only head of football Raul Sanllehi remains from the three-man panel which interviewed candidates for Wenger’s successor — chief executive Ivan Gazidis departed for AC Milan almost five months before head of recruitment Sven Mislintat left the club in February — but Ancelotti continues to have his admirers in north London at boardroom level.
Ljungberg admitted on Monday he is working on a “game by game basis” in consultation with technical director Edu and his next challenge comes in tomorrow’s final Europa League Group F clash, at Standard Liege.
