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Report: Despite Benitez nearing, Everton approached manager who ‘triggered the best’ from players
Farhad Moshiri is close to appointing Rafa Benitez as the next Everton manager but had approached Walter Mazzarri, per .
Benitez is close to taking up the Goodison Park helm vacated by Carlo Ancelotti, according to . The former Liverpool boss is the Everton hierarchy’s number one choice after he held positive talks with the club’s board.
Nuno Espirito Santo was also an option to replace Ancelotti after he took over from Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid. But the Toffees also explored appointing former Watford head coach Mazzarri.
Mazzarri is out of work, like Benitez, after the Italian left Torino in February of last year. He joined the Serie A side following a 10-month spell at Watford, who in 2017 despite keeping the Hornets in the Premier League.
The Vicarage Road outfit did, however, slip from 10th to 17th in the final run of the season after defeats. Mazzarri took seven-months out of the game before joining Torino, where he won games at the helm.
Mazzarri never ranked highly on Moshiri’s shortlist of candidates to replace Ancelotti at Everton. David Moyes was for the Toffees before he signed a new contract at West Ham.
Another considered for the vacant hot seat was . While Belgium coach and former Everton manager Roberto Martinez is to take over after Euro 2020.
TBR’s view: Everton right to overlook Mazzarri
Moshiri will disappoint some Everton fans if the British-Iranian businessman appoints Benitez, but he was right to overlook Mazzarri. The Italian would not have been the ideal replacement for his compatriot, Ancelotti.
Mazzarri’s Watford spell collapsed after April but was also plagued by instability. The Hornets lost seven of their 10 Premier League fixtures between November 6, 2016 and January 3, 2017. Along with no wins in their last six.
Heavy defeats to Liverpool and Tottenham (twice) also overshadowed wins over Manchester United and Arsenal. Mazzarri was simply unable to maintain the same level in the performances of his side, even if players felt like they learnt from him.
“I liked it back in the day when we had the Italian coach Walter Mazzarri, and that was when I pretty much had the best season in Watford,” Sebastian Prodl told the . “Mazzarri showed me a new way of defending and he triggered the best out of me.”