Ben Godfrey has been a “fantastic” signing for Everton and can be “the future” of the club at centre-back. Carlo Ancelotti has spoken of his surprise at the extent of the impact Godfrey has made since joining from Norwich City in a £20m deal in October. The 23-year-old produced a man-of-the-match display in the win over Leeds United in midweek after Ancelotti selected him to play in the middle of a flat back four. Godfrey has operated at left-back, right-back and in a back three since arriving at Goodison and the Everton boss says he didn’t realise he was so versatile. But Ancelotti says the former York City defender’s long-term future will be at centre-half – a position in which the Blues are well stocked.
Carlo Ancelotti said: “I think that the signing was fantastic. He is young, above all, he is young and can be the future of this club in that position. We have a lot of young central defenders and are covered for a long time with Yerry Mina, with Holgate, with Ben Godfrey, with Michael Keane. We have Jarrad Branthwaite on loan, he is another good central defender. There, we are really well covered for a long time.”
Asked to pinpoint the one stand-out quality Godfrey has, Ancelotti was struggling to choose.
Carlo Ancelotti added: “His [biggest] single quality, pffft….I think he has a lot of qualities, it is difficult to name a single, I think he has a lot of energy, his physicality is really top, top for a defender. He is fast, he is aggressive in one against one defensively, he is good with the head. I think this is the best quality he has.”
