It seems unlikely that Watford will let Marco Silva move to Everton but they have at least put plans in place for the worst-case scenario.
Watford have made it perfectly clear that they are not prepared to allow Marco Silva to leave for Everton less than a quarter of the way through his two-year contract at Vicarage Road.
According to Sky Sports, Everton went as far as to make a £10 million offer for the highly-rated coach. The Hornets, however, have rejected The Toffees advances while insisting that Silva will not be allowed to leave ‘at any price’.
But reports coming out of Italy on Friday morning suggest that Watford have at least put plans in place in case there is a sudden change in developments.
ItaSportPress reports that the Hertfordshire side will make a move for one Gian Piero Ventura if Silva, who is understood to be interested in replacing Ronald Koeman at Everton, does indeed leave for Goodison Park.
Watford’s trigger-happy owners, the Pozzo family, have never been afraid to make bold managerial appointments. But hiring the veteran Ventura would raise plenty of eyebrows.
After all, the 69-year-old’s stock has never been lower. After 1-0 aggregate play-off defeat to Sweden earlier this month means Ventura failed to lead Italy to the World Cup for the first time since 1958 – and became public enemy number one as a result.
Ventura, who has managed 19 teams since starting his managerial career in the early ‘80s, was pilloried by fans and pundits for leaving arguably Italy’s most gifted player, the Napoli ace Lorenzo Insigne, on the bench with the Azzurri crying out for a goal in the goalless second leg draw at the San Siro.
It goes without saying, then, that replacing one of Europe’s top young coaches with a journeyman veteran who has just endured the worst humiliation of his career wouldn’t go down well with Watford fans.
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