MANCHESTER, England (AP) – With his “headteacher” aura and astute offseason recruitment, Ronald Koeman is making an immediate impact at Everton and getting the best out of the club’s strongest squad in a generation.
It might be time for the blue half of Merseyside to start dreaming again, three decades after its trophy-laden heyday.
Koeman, a highly respected ex-Netherlands and Barcelona defender, was lured from Southampton in June and has guided Everton to its best five-game start to a league campaign in 38 years. With a draw and four consecutive wins, Everton is in second place, behind Manchester City, in the English Premier League standings going into a game at 17th-place Bournemouth on Saturday.
English football is already looking for the next team to “do a Leicester” and rise from nowhere to win the Premier League. Maybe it’s Everton’s turn, although Koeman has warned against any comparisons with the current champions.
“Normally, we can’t win the title. I think what Leicester did last season was an exception,” Koeman said. “I am realistic. If I tell you we will fight for the title, I think most people will say, ‘That man is crazy.'”