Director of Football Marcel Brands pulling off an audacious swoop for Juventus midfielder Aaron Ramsey would be a dream scenario for Carlo Ancelotti, amid reports by 90min of Everton being interested in a summer move for the Welshman.
The online publication suggested on Tuesday that club chiefs feel we must sign six or seven top-class additions in the next transfer window if the Toffees are to close the gap to the established top-six.
Two players said to be in mind are Ramsey and Real Madrid winger Gareth Bale, as the pair appear unsettled at their current sides and could be on the market whenever it opens.
Los Blancos are said to be ready to offload Bale and his £350,000-per-week after tax contract, and could even flog the former Tottenham Hotspur star on loan for free if the interested side agree to pay his salary in full.
Ramsey, on the other hand, is believed to have grown unsettled with life in Turin where he earns in excess of £400k-p/w, as Maurizio Sarri has only awarded him nine starting roles in Serie A games, which the three-time FA Cup winner is keen to avoid repeating next term.
Juventus are reportedly open to allowing Ramsey to leave the Allianz Arena after just 12-months, too, with claims from Italy back in February suggesting the Old Lady will look to cash in on the sizable profit available from landing him as a free agent in 2019.
Claims have also surfaced closer to home that Ramsey has been offered to Manchester United in a swap deal involving Paul Pogba, but Brands must ensure that if the £31.5m-rated man is to make a Premier League comeback it is at Goodison Park not Old Trafford – the home of the side he rejected at 17.
Signing Ramsey, let alone alongside Bale, would be a huge financial ask with Yerry Mina and Bernard our current highest-earners on £120k-p/w contracts, but the former Arsenal wizard would be the ideal midfielder for what Ancelotti is trying to build on Merseyside.
During his years at Arsenal, he offered the Gunners a driving force through the centre of the field that perfectly connected their defence and attack, while Ian Wright once lauded him for never hiding even when playing poorly.
“He’s one of those players who, no matter how poorly Arsenal were playing, he never hid, always showed for the ball,” Wright told BBC Radio 5 live.
“He got loads of stick but continually tried to play and in the way he wants to play football. We are losing a great player and it’s a shame.”
Ramsey always wanted the ball at his feet to try and make something happen, whether that be playing the ball out wide for a cross to come in, or be the one getting into the box vying to put the ball home.
It was that relentless willingness that saw him clinch his FA Cup titles with the Emirates Stadium natives, and it is that ability that saw Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan all look to sign him last summer.
Would you back a move to sign Ramsey this summer?
Yes
No
90min’s claims must be taken with a pinch of salt, however, as their suggestion of Ancelotti being interested in a move for Bale would require the Italian going against his previous comments.
Ancelotti worked with the Welsh winger while with Real Madrid, but later came out and publically criticised the former Tottenham star.
“If there is something that drives me crazy, it is selfishness. When a player has to pass the ball and does not pass it,” Ancelotti told Il Napolista. “I paid for that in the first person.
“At Madrid, I took off Bale in a game against Valencia. He had to pass the ball to [Karim] Benzema, who would have scored into an empty goal but instead of that, he shot [and missed].
“It was the reason that triggered an argument with Florentino [Perez, Real Madrid President]. I took him off and the mess began there.”
How willing Ancelotti and Bale would be to work together again could determine just how accurate the information sources have told 90min is, and how likely it is that the club want to bring Ramsey back to the Premier League after a year away.
In other Everton news, a 6 ft 1 Toffees regular still has a lot of work to do to clarify his uncertain future despite his recent claims.