Duncan Ferguson has all of the "qualities" to become the permanent manager of Everton in the future, says Carlo Ancelotti.
Ferguson was in caretaker charge of the Blues at this point last season and guided the team to a win and two draws in the league following Marco Silva's sacking.
Big Dunc's first game of that spell was a rousing 3-1 victory over tomorrow night's opponents Chelsea where he will be on the touchline as one of Ancelotti's assistants.
The Everton boss has been impressed with Ferguson since he arrived at the club and handed him a role in his new-look backroom set-up at Goodison.
And in a glowing reference of his coaching and man-management skills, Ancelotti believes the 48-year-old is good enough to one day take full control over the team.
"Yes, of course. Duncan has all of the qualities to become a good manager," he said.
"All the qualities. From a technical point of view, he is really good. I see him everyday in training, talking to the players, he has a good idea of football, the players respect him a lot and this is really important that the players respect you. And he has a lot of charisma. So for the future, sure, he will be a really good manager."
Ferguson is often seen in deep discussion with Ancelotti on the touchline and the Blues boss says his input is key before, during and after games.
"We are used to talking together and with the other assistants," he said.
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"We talk at half-time, we talk after the game and we prepare the strategy together for the future game. He is really involved and he is really helpful for me."
Ferguson employed a 4-4-2 formation during his caretaker spell - a system Ancelotti kept faith with during the early stages of his reign last season.
The Blues have mainly used a 4-3-3 set-up this term but had changed to a 3-4-3 because of injuries in recent weeks.
An enforced return to a flat back four in the first-half at Burnley last weekend helped improved Everton but Ancelotti - who will be without James Rodriguez due to a calf problem - would not be drawn on whether he would be reintroducing 4-4-2 for the visit of Chelsea.
"We are not going to change completely," he explained.
"We are going to change in the sense that instead of James there will be another player with different qualities and different characteristics and we have to be able to adapt only this.
"Our style, our strategy, our philosophy is not going to change because James is not there."
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