Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Carlo Ancelotti has claimed that he wanted to sign Joshua King for Everton in the summer.
The Norwegian attacker has now joined the Toffees, completing a deadline day switch from Bournemouth for around £5 million.
The striker was signed at the very last minute, but he could easily have joined the club months ago, with Ancelotti claiming that Everton were looking at him and had the chance to sign him in the summer.
“I think that Josh King is a really good option for us. We were looking at him also in the summer and we had a possibility to have him,” Ancelotti said.
“With his quality he will improve our squad. He can cover all the positions up front and he has experience in the Premier League so I’m happy to have him in the squad.”
Ancelotti added: “We didn’t score him to have more goals. We signed him to use his quality. He is a powerful player, a fast player, for this reason, not to score more goals.”
You have to wonder if Everton’s season would look a little different if King was signed in the summer.
Of course, Dominic Calvert-Lewin has had a breakout season, but would he have gotten as many chances if Ancelotti had to factor King into his rotation?
Furthermore, would Everton have suffered the minor blip they had while Calvert-Lewin was out earlier in the season if they had King?
These are questions worth thinking about, but the only thing that matters now is that the Norwegian is an Everton player, and hopefully he’s ready to fire the Merseyside club to Europe.
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