Speaking on the Royal Blue podcast, journalist Phil Kirkbride spoke at length about the future of James Rodriguez.
The Colombian midfielder was a high-profile free-agent signing last summer under Carlo Ancelotti, however, reports claim that Rafael Benitez may look to sell Rodriguez this summer as they look to trim their wage bill and squad.
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Last season was an indifferent one for Rodriguez, as he managed to muster up the most goal-creating actions out of anyone in the Everton squad, however, he also missed 12 games through injury and only managed to complete 90 minutes eight times in the Premier League.
Kirkbride spoke about Everton’s on Rodriguez’s future.
“It doesn’t seem as though, from what we understand, that Rafa sees him as being an integral part of things going forward. They’ve had the conversation, and we understand that he has been told if the right offer comes in, he can leave.
“As you said, and as we’ve spoken on the podcast before, there’s no guarantee that James will have left the football club come deadline day on August 31st.”
TIF Thoughts on Rodriguez’s future…
Once Ancelotti had left Everton, reports suggested that Rodriguez may follow him to Real Madrid considering the Italian signed him for Los Blancos back in 2014, as well as during his time at Bayern Munich, so he’s obviously a player that he trusts.
Rodriguez is currently the seventh-highest earner at Everton, picking up £90,000 per week (according to Spotrac) so moving him on may allow Benitez to bring in one or two new faces with that amount of money freed up on the wage bill.
The midfielder only managed to score six times and set up his teammates five times throughout 23 appearances for the Toffees, so perhaps an injury-free campaign would see his output improve, but there could be positives to be drawn from moving on – leaving Benitez with a decision to make.