Ex-director details missed chance to appoint Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta as Everton manager | OneFootball

Former Everton director of football Marcel Brands has revealed details of his attempt to lure Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta to Goodison Park in 2019.

The Dutchman claims he ‘moved heaven and earth’ to convince Arteta to succeed Marco Silva, who was sacked after a damaging defeat to Liverpool in the Merseyside derby.

Arteta, who was still Pep Guardiola’s student at the time, was one of several candidates under consideration.

However, Everton owner Farhad Moshiri opted for the experienced Carlo Ancelotti to steer the club out of troubled waters.

Brands has now opened up on his desperation to appoint Arteta, who spent six years at Everton during his playing days before joining Arsenal.

“I moved heaven and earth to bring Arteta to Everton,” Brands said (via soccernews.nl). “He is also a former player of course. I spent the entire evening at his house, and I saw him as the ideal man for us.

“I immediately saw a top trainer. At the time he was still an assistant to Pep Guardiola, and he was busy with other things. But you saw that this was becoming a top trainer.”

Arteta would have struggled at Everton

Arteta is receiving plenty of plaudits for his exploits at Arsenal after transforming the club from top-four exiles to Premier League title contenders, and rightly so.

However, there are several reasons why it would be far-fetched to assume he’d have thrived at Everton, not least due to the club’s limited spending power.

Unlike Arsenal, Everton wouldn’t have showered Arteta with the kind of funds that fuelled his recent success at the Emirates Stadium.

Arteta’s first three seasons at Arsenal were a struggle, and he came close to getting sacked on several occasions. Only last season did his vision truly come to life.

In hindsight, Everton’s decision to appoint the vastly experienced Ancelotti is justified.

Fresh out of Guardiola’s shadow and taking his first steps in management, Arteta would have struggled to weather the storm at Goodison Park, and Ancelotti’s proven track record of success made him a more appealing candidate.

With all this experience, Ancelotti could only get Everton a mid-table finish, so it’s hard to imagine Arteta would have done any better if Brands had his way.