2020/21 James Rodriguez

[tommye]

Lad, i cannot be arsed reading that.

Beautiful x

 

[RaphaelwearsjeansinWinter]

Hope Raphael has audited this clown.

 

[Sassy Colombian]

Everton is sure letting the Florida Cup organizers promote the upcoming match with James in mind.

 

[larbert toffee]

Two things:

1. I was expressing my view on what's best for all parties in that post, not the chronology of what's happened. Objectively, Rafael and James do not get along. James' staying will likely result in fewer minutes, which hurts any sell on value for Everton (if you believe there is any to be had) and further risks James' ability to further his career (he always prefaces statements in the fact he still believes he has gas in the tank).

At the height of his powers and as the reigning 'best midfielder in la liga' - Benitez limited James' minutes and started the narrative (warranted or not) of James' not taking care of himself with his comments in the press (which started their awkward press feud) in 2015.

If you are James, and you've just been told you need to be playing consistent minutes to get back on your NT, Rafael is probably the last guy you would have wanted your club to hire.

If you are Rafael, you've already lived a nasty press feud with James and don't want to deal with it becoming a distraction again and you probably want to field a worker bee because that's why you limited James' minutes back in 2015 anyway. You would want Everton to recoup a little money now and clear wage space for one of your guys. I think that's fair to both of them.

2. I'm not sure if you actually watched and understood James' comments or read the translations posted online - or if you know the rest of the story on that live. I did watch it and he seemed sincere that he was intending to return to Everton and it was a good move for him. What didn't get coverage in the UK, was everything else he said that day. James gave no Fs that day. It was complete foolishness and he should never have posted it. For example, at the same time all the want away stories in the UK were speculating he wanted to return to Madrid, James was saying very frankly that he wasn't interested in getting ghosted by Carlo again as he'd already followed him two times and been abandoned. Was he a little drunk and horsing around with friends? YES (at least it looked like it, he certainly wasn't thinking how dumb it was to be making any of the comments he was making). But he didn't pull any punches or talk politically with anything said (he literally furthered his public spat with his current NT gaffer, started a new feud with some Colombian NT stars from prior generations, and threw shade at Carlo for ghosting him in the same conversation he said playing for Everton next season was a good idea). He seemed to be broadcasting his inner monologue with no consideration for his best interest in any of it... So I tend to believe that yeah, he meant it.

Sorry mate, could you repeat that

 

[danny147]

Weirdly I don’t think he’ll push for a move and I hope he doesn’t. Even playing half the season he was our best creative player, also a name that would bring in good players who want to play alongside him. Rather him for half. Season than Gomes, sig etc for an entire one.

 

[larbert toffee]

Let’s just say that he still is a perfect lad but he is determined to prove a point.

I hope he is Sassy.

 

[Kever10]

Everton is sure letting the Florida Cup organizers promote the upcoming match with James in mind.

I wonder if his mini tour of the states have been part promotion as well? Being introduced at baseball stadiums as James Rodriguez of Colombia and Everton does us no harm whatsoever, especially with a tournament scheduled. He rests up nicely for the summer and we get some much needed exposure as well. Win win.

 

[Kever10]

From what I gather though it wasn’t like they had a slight difference of opinion. Rafael benched James because he didn’t work hard without the ball. If he did that there, in a team that probably could have carried him as a passenger, I highly doubt he’ll want to play him here where we can’t.

If you look at his stats for the season, it was not an extended thing. He was on the bench for the 1st game, and came on. 2nd game he started and scored 2. Then he played until he was injured on international duty and missed 2 months. He was back starting most games before Benitez was sacked in January. I think people are reading too much into this.

 

[Tramps_mate]

Weirdly I don’t think he’ll push for a move and I hope he doesn’t. Even playing half the season he was our best creative player, also a name that would bring in good players who want to play alongside him. Rather him for half. Season than Gomes, sig etc for an entire one.

We were generally rubbish when he played though weren't we?

 

[Eggsyblueskin]

A player who was half as good but who contributed through a complete season would be of more use to the team despite being less entertaining for the supporters.

 

[degsy]

I have no idea if James is committed to Everton Football Club. I don’t know how deep the fracture in his relationship with Benitez is. However a blind man on a galloping horse could see that he, when fit, is head and shoulders above anything in terms of creativity that we have at the club. Benitez is a good football manager, he has won trophies at the highest level, he will know that he needs James, or someone of his ilk, to bring success to Everton. James is having a good break from football not having been selected for his national team so hopefully he comes back refreshed and ready to go. Why would a club that needs at least 3 starting players waste money on replacing what they already have.
There has been plenty of feuds between players and managers which have been patched up, this is one where it is in everyone’s interest that a solution is found to get James on the pitch playing well in an Everton shirt.
Good sense has to prevail here.

Good sense may be in 4th place behind a dead heat of Agents, Ego and Money.

 

[Jeff Jones]

We were generally rubbish when he played though weren't we?

We were generally rubbish when he didn't play.

 

[Connor]

Weirdly I don’t think he’ll push for a move and I hope he doesn’t. Even playing half the season he was our best creative player, also a name that would bring in good players who want to play alongside him. Rather him for half. Season than Gomes, sig etc for an entire one.

He won't have to push to leave, his agent - Mendes - will do that for him

 

[Fishman]

Could he not just play central supporting the striker, thus relieving him a bit of the defensive duties as per playing on the right?

 

[danny147]

We were generally rubbish when he played though weren't we?

We was rubbish when everyone played other than the first few games of the season and against Liverpool. A better midfield behind him and he’ll be even better.