Seasons2020-21Rumour Mill
Mendes working to secure Rodriguez a move away from Everton
That's the claim of Colombian journalist Pipe Sierra who says that while a return to Real Madrid under Carlo Ancelotti for James hasn't been ruled out, it is seen as a more difficult option.
Rodriguez's agent, Jorge Mendes, is looking to secure a move for between €10m and €20m according to the report.
Reader Comments (98)
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2 Posted 23/06/2021 at 09:27:43
Or is Everton without Carlo simply not contemplatable?
3 Posted 23/06/2021 at 09:29:38
4 Posted 23/06/2021 at 09:36:49
If this creates any incoming fee at all it would be good business.
I just hope we can get some incoming transfers sorted before the pre-season gets under way.
Everyone seems to agree we need a bit of pace and an injection of creativity. James provided one of these attributes.
It still probably comes down to who is given the keys to the revolving door to the manager's office.
5 Posted 23/06/2021 at 09:38:35
I don't like the weather argument. He was in Munich for 2 seasons. Munich winters are brutal. And if he's considering Milan, that's on the foothills of the Alps. The winters there aren't exactly Mediterranean.
Germans are physical, Italians and Spaniards play a sly physical game and besides, most leagues, ours included are multi-national now.
Never quite sure why we feel we have the "rights" to weather and being tough. Must be a British thing.
Sad, but I have to agree, with Ancelotti gone it seems inevitable and if we can get money for him, then it makes sense to do so.
6 Posted 23/06/2021 at 09:52:13
7 Posted 23/06/2021 at 09:57:34
8 Posted 23/06/2021 at 10:03:37
9 Posted 23/06/2021 at 10:15:41
10 Posted 23/06/2021 at 10:15:43
Its obviously naive to think we can just ban dealing with the worst of them (Raola, Mendes, et al) BUT we should draw a very hard line that we expect contracts to be honoured.
James and Kean would be two examples where we can just stand up now and say “no, you signed a contract and we expect it to be honoured. End of.”
If they want to sulk and strike, then more fool them. Treat them like Koeman did to Niasse, only this time theyd actually deserve it.
If it upsets others - so what, they signed contracts too and would expect us to honour it if their knees popped out tomorrow.
If it stops us attracting players, so what, we dont want players who arent committed to us and think an agreements just a piece of paper.
The very last thing we need is this shit every single year as we try to build a team capable of challenging the top.
11 Posted 23/06/2021 at 10:16:14
12 Posted 23/06/2021 at 10:21:10
13 Posted 23/06/2021 at 10:34:20
14 Posted 23/06/2021 at 11:14:01
The winters in Munich are much worse and the tackling in Colombian football is pretty vicious. Even if he's go to Milan he can expect a pretty tough time in Italy too.
This weird machismo around English football needs to die. Most players in the Premier League aren't even English these days. Even in the 90s I'd rather play any English side than the likes of AC Milan, where Baresi etc would destroy you.
If he's off it's because he wants to play at the highest level again. He thought he might get that with Ancelotti at Everton, but that dream is gone.
15 Posted 23/06/2021 at 11:33:42
Still, we've got Iwobi.
16 Posted 23/06/2021 at 11:34:30
Like Ronaldinho, he may have reached his peak by his late 20s and is just carrying on for a wage packet. Without the desire to play, the talent is worthless.
17 Posted 23/06/2021 at 11:44:36
18 Posted 23/06/2021 at 11:47:11
19 Posted 23/06/2021 at 11:54:08
Both about right.
20 Posted 23/06/2021 at 11:54:49
21 Posted 23/06/2021 at 12:08:35
22 Posted 23/06/2021 at 12:14:56
Did kind of fall out of love with him though, posting pics on his private jet while his team mates were getting a frapping at the Etihad. Not exactly showing team spirit.
23 Posted 23/06/2021 at 12:25:53
The control and slide pass for Richarleson's goal at Anfield was worth whatever we are paying him ten times over.
He is the X factor. The player that wins matches with skill and quality that most on the pitch can only dream about.
I personally would hate to see him leave. In his short time with us I would have to say he is one of the most gifted footballers to ever wear the shirt.
24 Posted 23/06/2021 at 12:39:22
Such a shame we never got to see him in the flesh, but just because I think we need the other things I mentioned more, its always great watching the flair players, and Im sure Rodriguez would have enjoyed us, as much as wed have enjoyed him, but I honestly see no point in keeping him at Everton now.
25 Posted 23/06/2021 at 13:00:06
26 Posted 23/06/2021 at 13:02:34
27 Posted 23/06/2021 at 13:06:59
28 Posted 23/06/2021 at 13:14:26
29 Posted 23/06/2021 at 13:16:38
30 Posted 23/06/2021 at 13:20:00
31 Posted 23/06/2021 at 13:20:27
32 Posted 23/06/2021 at 13:30:06
And it seemed the DoF was working with the manager too. Not like previous where everyone seemed to be doing their own thing with little in terms of communication and coherence.
33 Posted 23/06/2021 at 13:43:49
I've enjoyed watching James and Alan for the most part while they been fit enought to play and in James case actually willing to play, I can also see a place in our team for the odd Pirlo here and there.
I would though have preferred that Brands went out and found younger versions of James and Allan that we can develop and add value to.
Brands could have then said to Ancelotti: "Have these Carlo, two excellent prospects, full of energy and willing to learn" and then Brands could have added: "After all Carlo you are committed to the Everton project in the long term and we are building for the future aren't we?"
34 Posted 23/06/2021 at 13:59:04
[BRZ]
35 Posted 23/06/2021 at 14:09:24
It's not necessarily a popular view in some quarters least of all because the current 'perception' is that the good ship Everton is hapless and rudderless. But to my eye there has clearly been some strategic thinking at the club behind the scenes which the signing of James was part of as a means for the club to 'monetize' his name.
On signing James the club advertised it in bright lights on an iconical building in Bogota, Colombia's capital city, on billboards in New York's Time Square and I believe in Florida with its considerable Latin American demographic. As a result there was a huge upsurge in 'brand awareness' of Everton in both Latin and North America.
The club now has commercial links with Colombian businesses; Everton became the first football club in the world to use TikToks live geo-stream focused on one territory (Latin America) for the Anfield derby, generating an astonishing 7.3 million video views; earlier this year we started a partnership with a Miami-based sports consulting and marketing agency headed up by Jurgen Mainka. Mainka is the former deputy general secretary and chief commercial officer at Concacaf (the South American equivalent of UEFA) where he made a huge impact helping to monetize and expand their club continental competitions. Mainka has also held senior positions at four Major League Soccer (MLS) clubs, including Beckham's Inter Miami, and has an impressive network of contacts we could further benefit from; for only the second time in recent years, this summer we will participate in one of those prestigious (and profitable) pre-season tournaments in the USA.
You can read more here:
Everton's International Strategy
Should monetizing James' name to expand Brand Everton be the sole criteria to keep him at the club? Of course not. We need him fit and on the pitch. In that way he becomes a double asset.
But I'm not going to class his signing as a 'failure' or the club 'incompetent' when, again to my eye, they have cleverly leveraged his name to Everton's benefit.
36 Posted 23/06/2021 at 14:37:21
You are over the moon... except for that annoying little voice at the back of your head, saying: 'You do know this won't last more than a week'!
37 Posted 23/06/2021 at 14:40:37
38 Posted 23/06/2021 at 15:33:44
I'd hope so, as he's the best footballer (from the bits I've seen and listened to on Radio Everton) since Alex Young! That's how high I rate him. He has said (I think I saw a statement from him, saying he would stay.)
All the points that you've raised Jay say that he's an absolute gem both as a footballer when he's fit and for raising our profile in the Americas, especially as we're going to the USA for a tournament. I suppose that if Mendes wants to arrange a swap, Real Madrid but be thinkingh they'd get the better of the bargain.
So your points have changed my mind! As well as a great footballer, he could be a magnet for South American players and fans alike.
39 Posted 23/06/2021 at 15:55:04
It would be nice to think he would commit himself into another year here.
40 Posted 23/06/2021 at 16:14:54
Problem is, he's good for the first 10 games of the season, then he's injured. Like every season.
Get rid.
41 Posted 23/06/2021 at 16:27:40
Hopefully hell take Sigurdsson and that useless lump of shite Iwobi with him but I wont hold my breath.
The longer this (typical Everton) manager search goes on the less time we have to clear out the garbage. And thus its looking like another season of treading water at best, barring a miracle. And lets be honest, miracles only seem to happen over the road following their deal with devil.
42 Posted 23/06/2021 at 16:39:56
43 Posted 23/06/2021 at 16:41:12
That's because we keep having to replace older, deteriorating players every 2 or 3 years. And because we get peanuts for them, we have no money to reinvest in their replacement.
So if we keep doing summers like 2020, we'll spend a lot of money treading water.
An amazing (to me) article today possibly from echo. The RS are looking to sell young welsh RB Neco Williams for about £10m.
If they do this, they will have recouped £30m in three years from reserve right backs (the others being Camacho and Ki Jana-Hoever).
The RS adopt a very deliberate buy to sell model which allowed them to rebuild quickly after Hodgson and then make big strategic signings to win the league. They are all about sell on value and would absolutely not buy the sorts of players we bought last summer.
We on the other hand, buy a broken galactico, two midfielders who will be worth almost nothing at the end of their contracts and the excellent Godfrey. It doesn't work. Apart from Godfrey.
44 Posted 23/06/2021 at 17:02:10
I think Jay Wood has made a good case for giving him more time with us, for this coming season at least.
45 Posted 23/06/2021 at 17:05:56
For every Torres, Suarez and Coutinho they bought at relatively low cost, they sold them for profit and replaced at relatively low cost again. I think Coutinho was the most outrageous example.
I just think right now we do need a balance of some ready made, experienced players coupled with some prospects.
But that's just me. I always think a team needs the balance between youth and experience. Very teams achieve success on youth alone. And I know Alan Hansen had egg on his face when he famously stated you won't win things with kids, but the likes of Ferguson's United of that era are freaks that rarely occur.
It's only my opinion (which isn't right or wrong), but I think a repeat of last summer and by next year, we could have had 6 young prospects and 4 - 5 experienced players to nuture them alongside whatever the academy can throw out.
But now we're going to have a new manager. We don't know who that will be so we don't really know the direction of travel, so my sounding off is pretty much irrelevant.
46 Posted 23/06/2021 at 17:24:37
47 Posted 23/06/2021 at 17:30:32
48 Posted 23/06/2021 at 17:37:31
Its getting the balance right that is crucial, some kind of value for money. The club are probably going to know better than us the physical and mental preparedness of James for a crack at another season in the EPL. Id hope that the return of the crowds and a decent start would enable the player to really fall for the club and give us a decent amount of first class displays.
49 Posted 23/06/2021 at 18:11:43
50 Posted 23/06/2021 at 18:28:32
51 Posted 23/06/2021 at 18:29:51
However, if we let less able players go, and replace them with higher quality, to complement the quality players we already have, then well be making progress.
This is the essence of where we are, and the question of who the new manager will be is of secondary importance compared with the matter of keeping our top players and signing more.
52 Posted 23/06/2021 at 18:33:23
Long-term success on the pitch would allow us that luxury player - but would require the quality players first in order to achieve lasting success. Unless - we have a luxury player just good enough to contribute enough often enough.
I'm torn on James, probably falling just into the "keep him" category. I think our Mr Gaynes (?) might have shown the stats to support that - number of games played; time on the pitch per gamer; contributions through goals and assists.
But not my decision to make, and he and his agent might make the decision for us ere long.
53 Posted 23/06/2021 at 18:47:51
54 Posted 23/06/2021 at 19:00:36
55 Posted 23/06/2021 at 19:07:46
Jay #35, excellent points and accurately assessed IMO.
Regarding the twin theories of James' possible departure, I too dismiss the weather/physicality arguments. James has never shied away from either. However, the fact is he didn't come to Everton to play for Everton. He came to play for Carlo. So unless we bring in a new manager who elicits equal respect, it's perfectly understandable that James would leave.
56 Posted 23/06/2021 at 19:20:19
Carlo: "James son, come and join me at Everton."
James: "Who, boss?"
Carlo: "Don't worry, just come and play for me. You get good money and play when you feel like it."
James: "Okay, for sure!"
Anyway. Good riddance if he wants to leave. We need players who are committed to the club, clearly he wasn't. Took the biscuit by jetting off back to Colombia before that Man City game. No player is bigger than the club. Au revoir.
57 Posted 23/06/2021 at 19:58:59
Got him on a free, got money when he left.
Add in Jay's piece about the commercial interests in SA then this is one excellent piece of business.
58 Posted 23/06/2021 at 21:18:42
59 Posted 23/06/2021 at 21:27:39
60 Posted 23/06/2021 at 23:24:16
So, if that is true, why the hell would we let him go? Even if he only played half the games, he would still be a mile ahead of any other player we have. We just need an Arturo Vidal type player to cover in midfield.
61 Posted 24/06/2021 at 08:06:04
62 Posted 24/06/2021 at 12:19:16
Personally, I hope he stays - with a manager, we could get the best out of him. Otherwise, if James does not fancy the challenge, then 'Thank you for the memories and good luck' and pocket the rumoured 15-20 million and reinvest in an up and coming star (Matheus Pereira of WBA for me)!
63 Posted 24/06/2021 at 12:24:06
Jeremy Doku, the young Belgian squad player, caught my eye the other night. Plays for Rennes in France. Only 19 or 20 and raw still, but pace to burn. Looks like he has all the potential in the world.
64 Posted 24/06/2021 at 12:51:58
65 Posted 24/06/2021 at 12:55:25
I'll get me coat!
66 Posted 24/06/2021 at 14:40:13
67 Posted 24/06/2021 at 14:46:55
Getting a fee is a bonus
68 Posted 24/06/2021 at 15:19:56
But if it was a free transfer, then any transfer fee will belong to Everton..
69 Posted 24/06/2021 at 19:47:27
70 Posted 24/06/2021 at 19:50:52
We need players who can play for 90 minutes and not in short bursts several times a match.
Flashes of class but we need consistency. We haven't the strength to carry players.
71 Posted 24/06/2021 at 19:57:05
72 Posted 24/06/2021 at 20:16:31
He's been a favourite player of mine for a long time but the admiration is being soured lately.
It appears his agent is working very hard to essentially find somewhere else that will pay him to do what he's done for some time now: play half a season at most whilst earning the big dollars.
The physicality of the Premier League may now be the excuse/in for another contract elsewhere in Europe. Seems he is very unfortunate to have injury problems that would have called time on less gifted players at any kind of upper professional level a long time ago.
The uncertainty of the self-management of his fitness and availability is untenable in the game, and apparently his national team have come to a similar understanding. Perhaps he should retire.
73 Posted 24/06/2021 at 20:38:56
As many have said hes a Monday-Friday footballer whom with Everton was predictably liable to injuries.
In some aspects, like Louis Saha, in my view.
A great talent but talent needs a heart, guts, and desire.
And it would seem he will end up at our old bosses club, as thats what he does.
But hopefully a lesson learnt by Everton.
74 Posted 24/06/2021 at 20:53:28
75 Posted 24/06/2021 at 21:01:28
Not Everton, that.
Seriously, I'm so disillusioned now, that I'll make a prediction:
Within the next 20 years, a major football club will be bought by an agent.
Instead of building a new stadium etc. to make a margin before selling, he will simply do commercial deals and trade players.
The game has lost its soul.
76 Posted 24/06/2021 at 21:33:33
Technically the Glenn Hoddle Academy project a few years back was essentially what you are saying, apart from it being more of a passage to professional football for players who slipped through the cracks. They ended up taking over that Spanish team and had all their players turn out for them. Quite a few ended up getting professional contracts elsewhere from taking part in it.
77 Posted 24/06/2021 at 21:34:33
78 Posted 24/06/2021 at 21:52:41
79 Posted 24/06/2021 at 22:03:29
As for James. His agent can shop him around all he wants, he's under contract with Everton who have an option for another year. Plus, lets not lose our Columbian fan base just yet.
80 Posted 24/06/2021 at 22:04:41
Well, in truth both sides are wrong.
James is class. The problem is its been that long since we had that level of player that many cannot see it, let alone work out how to get the best from him.
He has raised the profile of the club almost single handedly in South America, so commercially and from a base interest around zero, we are seen not just as another EPL team. We have James, We have (had) Ancelotti..The world sat up a little..
Bump...Ancelotti gone, James probably disillusioned completely, Allan too, both trusted Ancelotti, both probably not wanting a cold wet winters night playing Brentford in a half empty stadium as a footnote to their careers.
Everton are at the crossroads, a big one. They made a statement as to who and what we are, where we want to go, brought in a manager of repute and raised the club and the expectations.
Go forward with a quality coach, you get credibility and the project is still going forward. Appoint an up and coming no name and you are on a slippy slope backwards. It has to be a name. Whether we like it or not, too much is at stake commercially for Moshiri to chose a Howe or Potter, so a Klinsmann, Benitez, Martinez it has to be.
Not because they are a million times better, but they have better front media and profile wise. I suspect this is exactly the reason why no manager has yet been appointed, the also ran have been eliminated, the names have it.
Is a new manager to be had from the current crop of Euro coaches? One can't help thinking that despite all the fuss being made of Rafa, if he was going to get it, it would be done and dusted by now. No reason for it not to be unless we are waiting to see what happens to Martinez or like!
The outcome will tell us the aspirations of Moshiri (but maybe not the chairman)
81 Posted 24/06/2021 at 22:45:46
Like a few others on TW, the delay has got me thinking along precisely your lines but no way could I have articulated in the manner you have.
82 Posted 24/06/2021 at 22:58:17
Roberto splits the fan base just as much as Benitez does so its not an easy choice. I think it will be one of them and Im glad its not me having to do it.
83 Posted 24/06/2021 at 22:58:20
84 Posted 24/06/2021 at 22:59:01
Whomever we appoint as manager is going to dictate whether players like James and Allan stay, or effort to leave.
Personally, I'm just over glass cannons. E'to'o, James, and some other not-as-near-good crocks we've signed and payed a small fortune for as they were continually injured or under-performed.
I was hopeful of James coming in and stamping his talent all over the Everton squad under Carlo. He got hurt, odds were he would, and we fizzled. Then Carlo left. Turn the page.
James is a sick note. We just won't get the necessary ROI ratio concerning play on the field vs. wages paid while on the sidelines hurt.
We need to move on. We have to unleash Brands, for good or bad, and start bringing in kids who can play and have sell-on value.
The likes of James simply don't fit that business model. We toss, and have tossed, a lot of money down the drain on managers and ineffectual players. This must change, now.
Time to bite the bullet and say goodbye to James.
We need the players who are currently with Porto, Benfica, Bordeaux, Celtic, etc who are looking for that elusive next step. We need to sign them while affordable, promise to play them, and hire a manager who isn't afraid to play them.
And we need world peace - which might be more likely than the above.
85 Posted 24/06/2021 at 23:18:21
86 Posted 24/06/2021 at 23:21:45
I believe it has already been mentioned elsewhere, that to raise private funding for the new stadium, the owners and the club will have to demonstrate that the team isn't going to crash and burn in the next three to five years, that's why they bought in Ancelotti, and probably why they're thinking of bringing in Benitez a recognised name who can offer a sense of a safe pair of hands to those who wish to lend the money or invest in the stadium, this is why other younger and less experienced managers have apparently been left off the owners preferred list.
it's also the main reason why the fans won't be listened to in regards to the incoming manager, the income from match-going supporters is a drop in the ocean in comparison to the financials that the new stadium will bring to Usmanov and Moshiri, more likely when they sell Everton to the next owner.
Moshiri and Usmanov have already bet heavily on the 'project' not because they need Everton in the Champions League or other European competitions but because they need Everton to retain its place in the Premier League, anything that threatens that will not be acceptable to the pair, however, I think that creating a negative atmosphere at Goodison is possibly more threatening tp Everton's place in the top flight than anything else I can think of. When the people who have the cash, have no understanding of the game or the people who follow it, they are already on the slippery slope to disaster.
Buying players purely for their commercial impact is not the way to build a team, and it may explain why we have such a disparate squad. When you continually try to cut corners you end up going round in circles.
87 Posted 24/06/2021 at 00:58:56
So, if Rodriguez wants away just let him go and "monetize" for some other numpty muppet in charge elsewhere.
The older I get the more I miss the passion that used to be part and parcel of most player's outlook, even though in days of yore they too wanted the best deal for themselves. Nowadays it's a rare sight to see passion in footballers at all, and especially from most of those stealing a living at Utterly Stultifying Mediocre Finch Farm.
88 Posted 25/06/2021 at 01:02:29
How does Christine view Frank Lampard in terms of someone who might have that high enough profile despite being wet behind the ears?
Surely he can communicate authoritavely even with the superstars as someone who has ‘been there, seen it, done it and hes been in able to study the methods of a heap of the most vaunted managers up close.
Or is he easily dismissed as not impressive enough so far, or a major flight risk?
89 Posted 25/06/2021 at 01:10:44
90 Posted 25/06/2021 at 03:05:07
He showed in the early spell of last season, when we had all the main players available, that he can make things happen. Even Gomes looked good along side him.
But ultimately he came to play for Carlo. It happens. Staff who gave good relationship with manager follow them in multiple industries. Chefs often bring members of their team along to next jobs, managers take coaching teams with them.
Now Carlo has gone, its probably down to whether he can get a shift somewhere in better money or playing in a higher level competition. Hes hardly alone in Liverpool in terms of being a South American, and gas spent two years in a far colder city, So the whole “doesnt like the weather” thing is a bit off.
Fingers crossed from me that next season he will stay, and with the stands full give us all some memories!
91 Posted 25/06/2021 at 04:15:04
92 Posted 25/06/2021 at 07:14:24
But if hes really not up for it then there is not much point. And if theres any chance of us getting anything near £20m for a player keen to leave and who might only play 5-10 games then it makes sense.
93 Posted 25/06/2021 at 09:36:19
94 Posted 25/06/2021 at 11:45:29
95 Posted 25/06/2021 at 14:55:12
96 Posted 26/06/2021 at 14:25:08
If Rafa gets some of these players, out of the door, it is a start.
As for the Red shite connection, think Brian Clough managing league Champions Derby County, then a couple of seasons down the line, he is Managing their fiercest rivals Nottingham Forest, so it can be done.
One thing is for sure, we have to get behind him early doors, until the need to otherwise.
As for James, unplayable on his Day, but not a 90 minute player, and misses too many games for my liking, so if it is Rodriguez who wants the move, then let him go.
97 Posted 26/06/2021 at 23:16:44
98 Posted 29/06/2021 at 19:05:59
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1 Posted 22/06/2021 at 19:58:07