Everton fans may be starting to worry about their incoming new owners The Friedkins as they keep a close eye on the chaos currently enveloping AS Roma.
That’s according to Gazzetta dello Sport, who believe Everton fans are growing concerned as the American group struggle to get a hand on things in the Italian capital.
They explain that Roma’s managerial search following the sacking of Ivan Juric has now led them to Claudio Ranieri, who flew to London yesterday for talks with the club.
After ‘many calls and many surveys’, he is now the man the Friedkins want, seeing him as a safe pair of hands to stop Roma ‘from falling into the abyss’.
The veteran coach, who has managed the club twice already, is hardly an inspired or inspiring, though. The Friedkins had also sought out Vincenzo Montella but are refusing to pay the €1m required to get him out of Turkey.
The owners have been ‘caught unprepared’ by sacking Juric, having clearly thought he would turn things around. Now they are playing catch up and even had to cancel training because there was no coach to take it.
This has all been noted back on Merseyside, according to Gazzetta, where Everton fans are ‘starting to worry’ about how the Friedkins are managing things.
There is also concern about the growing gap between Ryan Friedkin and Dan Friedkin, who seem to want very different things and have very different ideas for the club. This has been seen in the manager hunt, with Dan calling for a foreign coach, hence links to Graham Potter, Frank Lampard and Erik ten Hag.
Ryan has insisted on an Italian profile, though, believing they need someone with experience of the league who doesn’t need an ‘apprenticeship’ period first. He has won on this particular occasion.
Ranieri is now the leading man but could be offered a technical role alongside a new manager further down the line or a consultant for the club. It’s all a bit of a mess either way, with the Friedkins chasing their tails and seemingly unable to decide on what they want to do.
That’s been spreading to England, where Everton fans have picked up on the chaos and started to grow concerned about what’s going on.