Neville Southall has called on Everton majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri to target Jose Mourinho following Roberto Martinez’s dismissal.
Martinez was relieved of his duties on Thursday after a second successive season of underachievement, with the Blues targeting Southampton manager Ronald Koeman as their preferred candidate.
Former Ajax boss Frank de Boer has expressed his interest in the role, but Everton legend Southall has urged Moshiri, now the key decision-maker at Goodison Park, to make a statement of intent this summer with a move for Mourinho.
“The board have to sit down and tell a new manager that the deal is you’ve got a three-year deal and within that time we expect improvement in the Premier League table and a trophy,” he told Paddy Power.
“If you’ve not done that within that time frame, you’re off. Everyone talks about a five-year plan but you’re three-quarters of the way through it after three years and there’s no visible progress.
“Ideally what we need is a mix of David Moyes’ defensive solidity and Roberto Martinez’s attacking flair. A Jose Mourinho team would fit the bill perfectly.
“Mourinho is a proven winner and even if he was just in for three years he’d have won you a trophy by then. He has the arrogance and the swagger to lift Everton out of the mire.
“His teams are built from the back but score plenty of goals and don’t give points away easily.”