Niels Nkounkou makes Everton future admission explains…

Niels Nkounkou makes Everton future admission explains Carlo Ancelotti transfer phone call

Niels Nkounkou has hinted that he is likely to leave Everton this summer and revealed how Carlo Ancelotti persuaded him to sign for the club.

Nkounkou is currently on his third temporary spell away from Goodison Park, after joining Ligue 2 club Saint-Etienne on loan in January.

However, prior to his move to France, the 22-year-old spent last season on loan at Standard Liege before joining Cardiff City in the summer. Despite making 13 appearances in a row for the Championship side and 18 in total, he fell out of favour in the Welsh capital from mid-December onwards and was recalled by Everton on January 14 so he could be loaned out again to Saint-Etienne.

Nkounkou’s initial three-year contract at Everton was due to expire in 2023, but he penned a new deal until 2024 before heading out on loan last summer. The ECHO understands Saint-Etienne do have an option to buy Nkounkou this summer, but it has been set relatively high as Everton think he has potential.

But speaking to Ligue 2, Nkounkou, who has registered six goals and six assists in 15 games for his French club, has revealed he is desperate to find stability as the uncertainty surrounding his future isn’t helping himself or his family.

He said, "I would like to fix myself in a project, not to find myself in uncertainty every summer, without knowing where I will do the season.

"I would like to find stability somewhere. In recent years, I’ve moved a lot, I’ve scattered a bit, and now I want to settle down.

"When you know that at the end of the season, you will surely no longer be there, that you will return to a club where you do not know if you will be able to stay even if you fight, it makes you think. It’s not always easy to live with, whether for me or for my loved ones, who follow me every time."

Nkounkou joined Everton on a free transfer from Ligue 1 giants Olympique de Marseille in July 2020. The full-back would go on to celebrate his 20th birthday with a Premier League debut at Newcastle United in November of that year, following impressive displays against Salford City, Fleetwood Town, and West Ham United in the League Cup.

Reflecting on how he joined the club, the French youth international has opened up about how a personal call from Carlo Ancelotti convinced him to move to Merseyside, as well as praising former Blues defender Lucas Digne for helping him settle in.

"I had a lot of proposals to sign my first professional contract, starting with OM, of course, but I also had Everton and several French and foreign clubs," he recalled.

"But one day, I received a phone call from Carlo Ancelotti, and that changed everything. He told me about the sports project he saw for me, how he wanted me to become a top player. I very much appreciated his speech.

"He told me that he was going to teach me a lot defensively, in the area where I had the most shortcomings, in positioning, and that he was going to help me correct that.

"Carlo also told me that I was going to be the number 3 left-back behind Lucas Digne and Leighton Baines.

"But in the end, Leighton decided to hang up his boots, and it was I who found myself behind Lucas, someone who helped me enormously in my adaptation. As we were both French, it was easier. And he's an international, so I learned a lot from him.

"When you're in contact with people like Lucas Digne or Carlo Ancelotti, a coach who made history and continues to make history, you learn faster. For all these reasons, I am happy to have chosen Everton."

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