James has ‘agreed terms’ with Everton
The sphere of social media has been buzzing with stories today that James Rodriguez has agreed personal terms and so is edging ever closer to becoming an Everton player.
Well even yesterday, I thought it was still far from certain the Colombian star would join Everton, despite all the new stories circulating. If these stories are correct then perhaps I’m wrong!
If indeed he does sign, then I’m happy to be proved wrong, on one condition. That is that the Blues get the James Rodriguez of two or three years ago and not the constantly injury-prone one of the past 18 months or so. That is a big if.
Since 2018, the Colombian has had a long succession of serious injuries culminating in a hip problem as late as February this year. He has though fingers crossed been healthy recently.
So make no mistake, this transfer is a big gamble by the Toffees. The club are getting a player who when he is fit and at his best, is a genuine world class talent with match-wining ability, who could play for most of Europe’s elite teams.
After all the last two clubs he has played for are the current La Liga winners and the newly crowned champions of Europe.
And in truth, if it were not for his injuries and perhaps his age, the Colombian probably wouldn’t be joining the Blues when told he was surplus to requirements at the Bernabau and would instead be moving to another Champions League club this summer.
We must hope that assuming the deal goes through and he passes a medical, he will be healthy and fit when he arrives at Goodison Park.
Because if he breaks down again and ends up missing a sizable chunk of the season, then it could end up being another busted flush of a transfer.
Given the Blues recent record with injuries, I’m thinking especially of last season’s signing Jean-Philippe Gbamin’s woes, I’m not optimistic on that score. Let’s hope I will be proved wrong.
And with the club’s financial position, it would be very difficult for Everton to go back into the transfer market again in a year or so. It does feel like this is a make or break move.
The Twitter rumours come from a reasonably reliable source and claim the two clubs are still negotiating over the transfer fee to be paid, with Real Madrid holding out for around £25 million and Everton not willing to pay that much for the 29-year-old.
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Interestingly, according to the social media stories, Rodiguez has agreed to take a very considerable cut in his wages to join Everton.
A figure that equates to roughly £4 million a year. If that’s true it would work out at about £76,000 a week, which is a massive reduction on the salary he is being paid by the Spanish club.
As mentioned yesterday, the key factor that appears to be at work in all this, is the huge influence of Carlo Ancelotti with these players and their obvious respect and desire to play for him again.
The Toffees boss is proving instrumental in persuading this calibre of talent to consider joining Everton, as indeed also appears to be the case with Napoli midfielder Allan, although we are still waiting for confirmation of that transfer too.
So now we have to wait and see if the Blues can get these deals over the line soon and then perhaps move on to other targets..?