Surely.
Old School
Surely they’ve moved past the need to bring in former legends of a game on free transfers in order to cobble together a Premier League squad. How very 2005 of them.
talkSPORT have linked Everton with a move for the Serbian defender and quote reports from his homeland that indicate a reunion with Ivanovic’s former manager Carlo Ancelotti, who is now in charge of the Toffies, is on the cards.
Time
The 36-year-old last played Premier League football three years ago, was handed just 13 appearances and sold to Zenit St. Petersberg in January. That might have been with Chelsea, but it still doesn’t bode well.
Between September and 31 January he failed to start a single top flight game, and at the age of 33, was considered too old to continue as an effective presence in the Blues back line. So how can he move to Everton and pick up the pieces after three more years and 125 games for Zenit?
The Toffies might be attracted to Branislav Ivanovic because of the experience he can offer the rest of the defence and earmarked him for a coaching role, but why would you pay the wages for a player to be used as a mentor? They’d be better off trusting in someone from the academy to play as an emergency.
Rebuild
Ancelotti will have to undertake some sort of rebuild, but it shouldn’t and can’t start with Ivanovic. They are backed by a wealthy owner who will want to see a recruitment process in place that looks beyond past achievements and into the future. It’s why they spent so much money on Richarlison and have developed players like Tom Davies and Mason Holgate.
Everton have also had their fingers burned by Wayne Rooney, even if that deal did have a more emotional pull to it. They can’t afford to do the same again.