Nick Ware

Sat 10 July 2021 21:10, UK

Everton star James Rodriguez was spotted wearing the iconic number 10 jersey on Saturday afternoon as the Blues beat Accrington Stanley behind closed doors.

It was a fixture that went under the radar as Everton defeated the League One side 3-0 at Finch Farm, with no prior warning that the game was taking place.

In a subsequent match report on the official Everton website the club detailed it as a “training game”, so it would appear that it is not being counted as an official pre-season friendly.

Accrington described it as a “very strong” Everton team, and Everton mentioned Gylfi Sigurdsson as one first-team star who was playing at Finch Farm.

However, the biggest star turn looked like it was Colombian superstar Rodriguez, who was snapped wearing a different shirt number to his usual ’19’.

As reported by various outlets, including Toffee TV on their Twitter account, a picture emerged of the 29-year-old sporting the number ’10’ on his back, a shirt worn by the likes of Duncan Ferguson, Wayne Rooney and Gary Speed.

Here to stay?

It was a big surprise to see Rodriguez wearing the number 10 jersey, not least because it is a shirt that has been Sigurdsson’s for the past few years.

The Icelandic midfielder was a fixture in Carlo Ancelotti’s side last season before the Italian’s departure to Real Madrid, and it seems strange that he would give up the iconic jersey so easily.

It’s pre-season so events need to be taken with a pinch of salt, but the fact that Sigurdsson was also playing in the game, as confirmed by the club themselves, could be significant.

It was widely reported that Rodriguez would angling for a move elsewhere after Rafa Benitez arrived as Ancelotti’s successor, with the pair not seeing eye-to-eye at Real Madrid during their time together.

Indeed, the Liverpool Echo reported on July 1 that he was being offered to clubs around Europe.

However, perhaps this is the first sign that the Colombian is set to extend his stay on Merseyside into a second season.

He set Goodison Park alight at the beginning of the 2020/21 campaign before fading away into obscurity, and many supporters began to grow tired of his continued absences from the side.

However, this is set to be a fresh start for many players under Benitez, and perhaps Rodriguez could be one of the greatest beneficiaries of this new dawn.

In other Everton news, Fabrizio Romano claims the Blues are in active exit talks over this big-name.

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