Starting the season with Marco Silva as their manager, Everton struggled to find any sort of form under the Portuguese, which eventually led to his sacking in December.
When the time came, many names were touted as replacements for the former Watford manager, with one of them being Carlo Ancelotti.
The Italian had just seen his contract with Napoli be terminated, and there appeared to be a desire to return to the Premier League, with Arsenal also keen on his services.
The Gunners eventually decided to go for Mikel Arteta, and Ancelotti was seduced by the prospect of managing at Goodison Park, where he has done wonders since arriving.
Everton have climbed up the table, and Djibril Sidibé, who has featured consistently under the former Chelsea head coach, sat down with RMC Sport on Monday, where he described what changed when the appointment was complete.
He said: “We were all very excited at the prospect of meeting him, to know his first words, because we’d heard such good things about him. He exudes class. You can feel he’s won everywhere he’s gone, has experience, and now he’s trying something new with a very ambitious club”.
However, Ancelotti’s patience was put to the test against Crystal Palace when Sidibé was asked to come on in a rush, and appeared on the touchline with just one sock on as he was getting ready.
The images went around the world, and he explained what happened when it was brought up.
He said: “It’s a generational thing. Before you just had socks to put on. Now you have the cut sock, then the big one. In that situation, the manager had told me I wouldn’t be playing, so the preparation for the game was different as I’d spoken with him.
“At first I wasn’t meant to go warm up, but Moise Kean told me to go with him. It was cold, so I put the tracksuit on. Then what happened with Theo happened. He sends Iwobi to train first because he’s a winger, and then you’ve got Ferguson telling me to come, so I take off the top, the bottoms and then I did the reflex where you pull up your socks…”
That’s when he realised what happened, and decided to rush back into the changing rooms after Ancelotti’s reaction to get his kit right.
The defender was also asked whether he spoke English, which he does a little bit, but only when it comes to football terms.
The rest? “I don’t understand [the Scouse accent]. For example, Leighton Baines, I don’t understand him at all. Jordan Pickford too, or even [Duncan] Ferguson… (shakes his head)”.
You’ll get there, Djibril. You’ll get there.
