More Rodriguez rumours about Everton future

There are more rumours floating about that James Rodriguez might not be fully committed to Everton following the way season ended for him.

According to reports in the Liverpool Echo the Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti has been speaking about the Colombian’s behaviour and addressing questions as to whether he is really committed to Everton.

And this comes after the end of the season when Rodriguez didn’t play in the Blues last two Premier League matches with the rather ambiguous issue of ‘fatigue’ being cited as the reason for his absence from the team.

This seemed a little iffy to be honest especially when it was clear that the former Real Madrid star was most focused on being fit for the South American championships this summer.

That seemed to be his main priority rather than giving his best for Everton in those final games with European qualification still a possibility.

This isn’t the first time there have been questions over whether the Colombian is giving his all for the Toffees, with rumours surfacing he was unsure over his future earlier this year. Those were dismissed by Ancelotti but I wonder if there something to this.

As I’ve said before I did feel it was a gamble to sign him given all his past injury problems but his talents were certainly on display in the first few weeks of the season as Everton made a brilliant start to the campaign.

But then those issues returned when he was tackled moments into the first Merseyside derby in October by Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk.

The challenge was obviously a cynical one and designed to unsettle Rodriguez but it didn’t look that serious. However, although he stayed on the pitch for the rest of the game, after that match he was out for a few weeks and then was almost constantly struggling for full fitness for most of the rest of the season with frequent absences thoughout the campaign.

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His regular trips to South America for games during the international breaks didn’t help because there was often so little time between those matches and the next round of Premier League fixtures.

This meant he (and other internationals in the Blues squad) seemed to have problems recovering his sharpness and struggled at times to cope with the hectic nature of the English game.

And while it’s affected a lot of players, it’s more of an issue for a player as physically fragile as Rodriguez apparently is.

For me all this underlines the question yet again of whether Everton can build a team around a player with these sorts of problems. And now there is the further issue of his readiness to continue playing  with this team.

Ancelotti was trying to sound reassuring about Rodriguez’s future but his injuries this season and the nature of the Premier League with it’s relentless fixtures alongside the Toffees failure to secure European football, might well be making him reconsider staying.

Another interesting angle to this is the constant transfer stories that Everton are interested in signing Barcelona star Philippe Coutinho.

The ex-Liverpool attacker is surplus to requirements at the Camp Nou and whether there’s anything to it or not these rumours aren’t going away. There doens’t seem to be a lot of sense in having both players at Goodison Park so are the Blues possibly thinking of swapping one South American playmaker for another..?

Whatever happens with Rodriguez I think that his main role if he stays, will be that of a super-sub type of player who can be brought on to change a game rather than a regular fulcrum to the team’s attack.

The Colombian is a superb talent when he’s fit and focused and I don’t want him to go, but what Everton really need is a front line of pace and power with direct attacking players who can provide natural width and contribute goals regularly. That’s how they will compete for honours and Europe in the very near future.