James Rodriguez refused to budge on his wage demands, putting paid to Everton exit
The refusal of James Rodriguez to lower his personal demands made an Everton move for Luis Diaz fall through, according to The Athletic.
The 30-year-old Colombian refused to budge on his £200,000-a-week-plus wage demands as Porto attempted to seal a deal that would have seen his 24-year-old international teammate move the other way.
Rodriguez remains at Goodison Park until at least January, and he is keen on collecting his pay packet every week instead of taking a pay cut and move to where regular football is available.
The Athletic wrote on their website on Wednesday: “So it looked likely Rodriguez would leave, especially since he needs first-team football to regain his place in the Colombia squad for next year’s World Cup.
“But when potential exits arose, including a switch to Porto that would have seen their exciting winger Luis Diaz coming the other way, Rodriguez refused to budge on his £200,000-a-week-plus wage demands.”
Selfish?
Everton will be regretting their decision to make the former Real Madrid ace their highest-paid player, and the fact that no single club on the planet was ready to pay him what he wants speaks volumes.
Rodriguez is not going to be featuring in manager Rafa Benitez’s starting XI anytime soon, and while he regularly indicated on Twitch that he wanted out, he was not ready to make the financial sacrifice that comes with such.
He denied the Toffees the chance to sign Diaz, and it just shows how some players will always put themselves above their clubs and everyone else.
Rodriguez should be playing regular football in order to play for Colombia at the World Cup, but his wages come first, and things could remain the same in January.
The Goodison Park outfit have made some serious transfer mistakes in the past, and this should count as one of them.
In the end, Benitez had to settle for two free outfield signings and a £1.7million Demarai Gray to bolster his squad, but he could have been financially equipped to do more had the Colombian moved, and he is not likely to be happy with such selfish decision.
In other Everton news, Toffees were dealt blow as major development ruled out potential last-gasp deal.
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