Carlo Ancelotti is ready to sell Gylfi Sigurdsson after the Everton midfielder produced a discouraging performance at Liverpool in the FA Cup, according to Football Insider.
Sigurdsson is one of eleven players still at Goodison Park who were purchased during Steve Walsh’s time as Sporting Director, with the Iceland midfielder lured away from Swansea City in 2017 for a then-club-record £45million.
But the £100,000-per-week playmaker has not always managed to live up to his price tag, and particularly withered at Anfield on Sunday when paired alongside fellow Walsh signing Morgan Schneiderlin in central midfield.
Sigurdsson struggled to match the pace of the FA Cup Third Round tie, and would fail to leave a telling impact on proceedings as a result, despite creating two big chances to score.
Ancelotti is now open to considering Sigurdsson’s future on Merseyside having been left discouraged by the weekend’s performance, but will only sell the 74-cap international if the club are able to recoup a large proportion of the fee paid two-and-a-half years ago.
The boss hopes to use the capital raised by selling Sigurdsson to improve his transfer budget, and may not stop at cashing in on the 30-year-old former Tottenham Hotspur man, either.
The report suggests Ancelotti will look to increase his budget through the sale of ‘some big name’ players, though departures may not occur until the summer when clubs are more open to spending vast sums.
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While Ancelotti is ready to sell Sigurdsson after his efforts at the weekend, the midfielder has struggled to match his displays from last season all term, in reality, with only one goal and assist to show for his contributions in the Premier League.
By this stage of Marco Silva’s debut campaign at the Goodison helm, Sigurdsson had already struck eight goals and penned three assists as he went on to end the campaign as our joint-leading ‘scorer with Richarlison on 13 – plus a team-high six assists.
If we are now to lose Sigurdsson, the decisions of Silva and Director of Football Marcel Brands in the summer should come back into focus, having agreed to sell Nikola Vlasic to CSKA Moscow for around £14m.
Ancelotti may have had a ready-made replacement for Sigurdsson had we retained Vlasic, who has gone on to be involved in 14 goals in all competitions (eight scored, six assists) so far this season.
In other Everton news, despite reports of a deal being close, the club’s move to sign a 6 ft 4 centre-back has been knocked back.