James Rodriguez would return to Everton if the chance arose
Former Everton attacking midfielder James Rodriguez has said he would return to Goodison Park if he got the chance in the future.
The 30-year-old arrived on Merseyside with Carlo Ancelotti and lit up the Premier League before an injury curtailed his season.
But when the Italian rejoined Real Madrid and Rafael Benitez took over the Toffees, he found himself in the cold and left for Al-Rayyan of Qatar in September.
Now, though, he has stated that he would like to return to Everton one day and with Benitez no longer at the helm.
“I would have liked to have been at Everton for much longer,” the Colombian said on his Twitch channel, as transcribed by the Daily Mail.
“It’s a spectacular club, the fans are incredible, but I ran into a coach who didn’t want to count on me. I wanted to be there. Unfortunately, the coach didn’t want to count on me.
“But I’d come back, why not? I left everything, I always trained, worked and the Everton fanbase is very big and supports well.”
Second chances
Everyone, without exception, deserves second chances in every walk of life and that includes the traditionally cut-throat world of Premier League football.
It wasn’t a drop in form that saw Rodriguez all of a sudden struggle to get on the bench at Goodison Park, just Benitez’s own preferences.
Frank Lampard would love to have a player like the Colombian at his disposal which is exactly why he signed Donny van de Beek and Dele Alli on deadline day.
Both of those are more creative than anything the Toffees had at the time but Rodriguez is another level again, capable of beating teams almost single-handedly on his day.
There are far worse things they could do in the summer than try to bring the 30-year-old back to Merseyside and rekindle that spark that saw him become a fan favourite.
He seems keen, Lampard surely wants that kind of player permanently, Farhad Moshiri, dig into your pockets, please.
In other Everton news, Michael Ball has sent a message to the Toffees squad ahead of their game against Manchester City at the weekend.