Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti has told the Daily Mail that he thinks Moise Kean will be ‘better’ next season after a difficult first campaign.
The Toffees thought they had landed a real coup last summer. They had convinced Juventus to sell Kean, and got him without a buy-back clause in the deal.
Kean had shown real promise with Juve, scoring goals in their first team as a kid. That saw him earn comparisons to Romelu Lukaku, and some believed he would finally be Everton’s replacement for the Belgian.
However, it has been a tough year for the 20-year-old. He has started just five Premier League games, whilst one goal and two assists in 28 appearances isn’t what many had expected.
Kean has also been the source of off-field issues; during the nationwide lockdown, Kean hosted a party, flying in the face of the pandemic-induced rules – and Everton fined him two weeks wages according to The Guardian.
This has all been a perfect storm for rumours about Kean leaving. Calciomercato claimed in May that Roma want Kean, and would be willing to offer winger Justin Kluivert in a swap deal.
Super-agent Mino Raiola represents both players, and he loves to move his players around. It doesn’t sound like Ancelotti is ready to give up on his fellow Italian yet though.
Ancelotti has admitted that he has spoken to Kean about his behaviour, and predicted a much better season for him next term – even though he has the ‘fantastic’ Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison ahead of him – all suggesting that there are no plans to swap Kean or let him go any time soon.
“I have spoken with him, I have spoken with everyone about how important their behaviour is on the pitch and outside the pitch,” said Ancelotti. “He knows how to behave and everyone knows how they have to behave. Everyone knows what I expect from them.”
“He has come to a new country. Second, you have to consider he is only young and so maybe he needs more time to adapt. Third is for most of the players it was difficult to get through this (lockdown) period because they were alone at home. We have to take all this into consideration and next season for him will be better. Moise is part of the team, part of the squad. He didn’t play a lot this season, but the competition among the front players in our squad is really high. We have fantastic strikers,” he added.
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