Report: Everton turned down £23m attacker; Ancelotti didn’t think he’d fit

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Everton turned down the chance to sign Arkadiusz Milik from Napoli as Carlo Ancelotti wanted a forward more suited to playing on the counter attack, journalist Ciro Venerato said in quotes translated by Tutto Napoli.

Unless a club from Russia comes to his rescue between now and October 17, the Polish international striker will be wasting the next three months twiddling his thumbs on the sidelines.

Napoli were desperate to find a buyer for Milik this summer with his contract due to expire in 2021.

But, after failing to secure a move to Tottenham, Fulham, Newcastle and more, the £23 million-rated striker is now stuck in purgatory (Gazzetta).

Milik has been left out of Napoli’s Europa League squad and won’t play in Serie A until January at least.

Corriere dello Sport reports that the former Ajax front man is now being forced to train away from the rest of Gennaro Gattuso’s squad.

Even Ancelotti, his former boss at the Stadio San Paolo, failed to offer him a lifeline before the Premier League window slammed shut on Monday.

“I think he aspired to (joining) Everton, PSG or Atletico Madrid,” Venerato told Radio Kiss Kiss.

“However, Everton wanted a counter-attacker and not one with the characteristics of Milik. Ancelotti communicated this to a member of his entourage.”

Standing at 6ft 1ins, Milik is a rangy, penalty-box poacher in the Dominic Calvert-Lewin mould, rather than a speedy forward capable of turning defence into attack in the blink of an eye.

Ancelotti obviously felt that he did not need another classic number nine with Calvert-Lewin the star of his Everton revolution.