The Liverpool Echo’s head of sport David Prentice has recently discussed Everton’s impending signing of Colombian midfielder James Rodriguez.
In recent days, it has been widely reported that it is just a matter of time before the Real Madrid man is announced as the latest arrival at Goodison Park (via The Athletic).
It has been stated that his medical took place on Thursday and the deal will be ‘worth more than £20m’ (per BBC).
The fact that the 29-year-old midfielder has a market value of £28.8m according to Transfermarkt would suggest that it is an impressive piece of business by the Toffees.
On the latest episode of the Liverpool Echo’s Royal Blue: The Everton FC Podcast, Prentice discussed his thoughts on the impending signing.
He said: “[Carlo Ancelotti] will play [Rodriguez] regularly. He will hopefully bring the best football out of him and we’ll see the level of performances that we saw three/four years ago from him.
“There’s obviously a great relationship at play there, but it’s absolutely 100% the reason that he’s coming to Everton; because he rates Carlo Ancelotti – he respects him.
“Allan to a lesser degree – English football obviously means an awful lot to him, but equally, he wants to work for Carlo Ancelotti.
“We can’t underestimate how significant a managerial appointment that was.
“We’ve had a lot over the last few years and we were very, very excited about Ancelotti’s appointment and this underlines again why we were right to be excited.”
TIF Thoughts…
As can be seen in what the journalist had to say, he clearly believes that the presence of Ancelotti has played a big factor in Rodriguez’s prospective move to Goodison Park.
Are you excited by the impending arrival of James Rodriguez?
No, he's not that good
Yes, he's a great player
During his most prolific league season, the Colombian netted a whopping 13 goals and 13 assists over 29 La Liga appearances for Real Madrid during the 2014/15 season (per WhoScored).
During the most recent term, though, Rodriguez bagged just one goal and one assist in eight league appearances, so hopefully, as Prentice suggested, the midfielder can get back to his best under Ancelotti.