Richarlison questions Rafa Benitez decisions and makes James Rodriguez admission

Rafa Benitez isn’t particularly an admired person on the blue half of Merseyside. He was brave to travel across Stanley Park given the controversial past with Liverpool. Benitez never got the full support of fans as some of his decisions caused dismay and disappointment to the fans. In fact, some of his decisions even took the players by surprise. Richarlison has now commented on them.

Benitez was chosen as the new Everton manager after Carlo Ancelotti left in the summer as Real Madrid came calling. Much to Everton fans’ displeasure, Benitez was announced as the next manager. After the plucky upstart, the situation crumbled like a statue of sand as Everton and Rafa Benitez were left scratching their heads in finding a solution.

A losing streak, poor performances on the field and poor tactics resulting in Everton lingering close to relegation resulted in Benitez’s sacking in January. During Benitez’s tenure, the Spaniard made several changes like selling key players Lucas Digne and James Rodriguez.

Rodriguez arrived when Ancelotti took over and in the limited games he played for Everton in first season, the Colombian sparkled and sprinkled his Midas touch. The Toffees had rarely seen such a hugely talented playmaker with exquisite skills.

Richarlison questions Rafa Benitez decisions at Everton

Despite Ancelotti’s departure, fans were hopeful that the Colombian would stay and play at Goodison Park. Benitez came in and deemed Rodriguez surplus to requirements. He eventually left Everton, joining Al Rayyan.

Richarlison has now spoken about how these decisions impacted the squad and how he was taken by surprise when Rodriguez was told that he was not in Benitez’s plans.

"When I got back from the Olympics, even I was surprised by how much he [Rodriguez] was running and how dedicated he was in training. Then, out of nowhere, the coach told him that he didn’t have him in his plans. Nobody understood a thing. It weighed heavily on the group because we all knew James’ quality. (via Marca)"

Similarly, there was a fallout between Benitez and Digne, after which, the former Napoli boss never played the Frenchman, indicating an end to Digne’s Everton career. The player was ultimately sold to Aston Villa in the winter transfer window. Everton had already signed his replacement Vitaliy Mykolenko.

"Then it happened with Digne, who we ended up losing.  It weighs heavily. Whether we like it or not, it does weigh heavily on us. There was a united group and we ended up losing two players."

Ultimately Benitez’s tenure as Everton manager did more harm than help. New manager Frank Lampard has a humungous task at repairing the situation on and off the field.

Is Richarlison right to question the decisions made by former manager Rafa Benitez?