Carlo Ancelotti is determined to get Everton competing for honours.
The 60-year-old, who has won three Champions League titles in his career, replaced Marco Silva at Goodison Park and hopes to make the Toffees a Premier League force.
Speaking at his first press conference since being appointed on Saturday, Ancelotti said: “This club wants to improve, wants to compete. These were the reasons that I decided to come here.
“All the people that I met on Saturday were very kind, the chairman, the board, all the supporters. It was a really good day for me.
🗣 | @MrAncelotti: "The biggest factor to come here was the ambition of the Club, but also the history, tradition and the atmosphere of the supporters as well. We want to compete."#WelcomeMrAncelottihttps://t.co/1AeZynBQQT— Everton (@Everton) December 23, 2019
“I now have an idea of this team and this squad, today I start to work with a lot of commitment. I am really excited. I want to try my best to help the team to be better and help the club to be competitive and give happiness to supporters.
“Our goal is to try and play better football. These players have the quality to play better.
“Duncan (Ferguson) has done a fantastic job because the team has showed a fantastic spirit. After that we have to try to play attacking football. The supporters want to see attacking football and I want to put into this team a good style.
“The long-term goal is to be competitive.
“There are a lot of fantastic teams here but we want to be ambitious. We want to be competitive and (qualifying for) Europe would be good. It takes time, it will not be overnight.”
Ancelotti is confident in the quality of his squad and believes the club has the ambition to challenge at the top end of the Premier League.
“I think that the squad is good. There is a good mix of experienced players, you can see a sense of belonging, it is a good mix I think. I am satisfied with the squad.
“The first thing is we have really important games in this period. After that we can talk about how we can improve this team.
“The club wants to build a new stadium, the ambition of the club is really high and I am excited to be in this project.”
How good does this look? 🤩💙#WelcomeMrAncelottipic.twitter.com/6BBrm0Pasx— Everton (@Everton) December 23, 2019
Ancelotti also ruled out a move for Zlatan Ibrahimovic and backed Moise Kean to be a starter for Everton.
“Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a good friend of mine. He was my player,” he added.
“I think he finished his period in the United States and really I don’t know what his idea is. I am going to call him, if he wants to come to Liverpool to enjoy, he can come. But not to play, not to play!
“Moise Kean did really well last year. When I was at Napoli I tried to sign him. He signed for Everton.
“He has a lot of talent. We have to consider that he is 19 years old and every player who changed country or team needs time for adaptation. We have to work on him to improve his quality.”
