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James could leave Everton this summer

By Matt Townsend

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 14: James Rodriguez of Everton comes off due to injury during the Premier League match between Everton and Fulham at Goodison Park on February 14, 2021 in Liverpool, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Jason Cairnduff - Pool/Getty Images)
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - FEBRUARY 14: James Rodriguez of Everton comes off due to injury during the Premier League match between Everton and Fulham at Goodison Park on February 14, 2021 in Liverpool, England. Sporting stadiums around the UK remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Jason Cairnduff - Pool/Getty Images) /
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Reports circulating today claim that James Rodriguez is growing increasingly unhappy with life at Everton and in the English Premier League and is considering moving back to Spain this summer.

This story has emerged from HITC.com who claim the Colombian forward is becoming disallusioned with his short time at Everton due to the physicality of the English game and his almost constant injury problems.

This won’t be a rumour that will be welcomed by most Toffees fans. As always this is just another transfer story that has emerged in the media and needs to be taken with the usual pinch of salt.

I wrote when the Blues brought him in that I thought signing Rodriguez was a gamble by the club. Don’t get me wrong I was glad to have a player of his undoubted talent and flair joining Everton, but I did think given his injuries and the fact he had not played in a more physical league like the Premier League, it was a big risk.

This season Rodriguez enjoyed a great start to the season in the first month or so as the Toffees got off to a flying start and won their first seven matches to sit top of the table before the first international break.

But since Rodriguez (like several other Everton players), has returned from that first break he hasn’t ever been quite as consistently influential and effective.

From the first match after that break, against Liverpool, he’s suffered a succession of albiet minor but annoyingly constant problems that he seems to be unable to recover fully from.

Once again in the past week or so Rodriguez has picked up a knock against Manchester United, which forced him off and then he was hurt against Fulham and again went off meaning that he couldn’t start against Manchester City either.

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So could the Colombian actually be contemplating leaving Goodison Park? I suppose it’s possible that he could and this season hasn’t quite worked out as well as he or Evertonians might have hoped.

The physical demands of the English game have taken their toll and it’s particularly a problem because of the compressed nature of this season due to Covid with so many matches coming so quickly back-to-back.

As well as this, sometimes trying to shoe-horn Rodriguez into the team has created an unbalanced side. His technical skill and creative abiltiy is second to none, but sometimes when he plays Everton lack the balance and pace they need up front.

Despite progress this campaign, at the moment anyway, the Blues are looking at a major struggle to finish in the European places never mind the top four. And by the end of this weekend it’s quite possible they will have lost three consecutive Premier League matches and be well off the pace in the pursuit for Europe.

For a player like Rodriguez European football is probably a basic requirement for him, he’s used to playing in the Champions League too. If the Toffees can’t qualify for Europe this season, he may be even more inclined to agitate for a move away.

Perhaps Rodriguez needs a sustained spell out to recover his fitness and hopefully as the weather begins to improve and warm up a bit once we get into Spring, maybe we will again see the happier James we saw at the start of the season.

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