Rafa Benitez talks about James’ future at Everton FC

As the Toffees get ready for a new season, Rafa Benitez spoke about James Rodriguez’s possible future at Everton FC.

The story between Everton and James Rodriguez is a tricky one with Rafa Benitez just taking the lead of the squad. When Carlo Ancelotti took over, he decided to bring the Colombian star to the Merseyside club in order to revive his professional career. When he first arrived, it was clear that James’ quality coil take him to new heights in English football. But his constant issue remained at Everton: his consistency. Back when he was at Real Madrid, James was only able to shine during his first year at the club.

After that, Los Blancos decided to send him to Bayer Munich on a loan and he never gained a place with the Spanish giants when he stayed. Everton offered him a new lifeline that he simply wasn’t able to benefit from. Now that Rafa Benitez is at the club, James’ return to form seems difficult with no Carlo Ancelotti to help him on his way back to the top. The Spanish manager spoke about the Colombian’s struggles to earn himself a spot inside the first squad.

James Rodriguez 2020/21 stat update:

Games: 18
Goals: 5
Assists: 7
Pre-assists: 11
Idea balls: ∞ 😏

Another major impact from @jamesdrodriguez. 🎯 pic.twitter.com/RM73V3x4pk
— Everton (@Everton) February 7, 2021

James will find it difficult to play at Everton.

Although the pre-season is only getting started, getting this message from the manager can’t be overly encouraging. Benitez already has a mapped plan in which James might not fit perfectly. However, the Everton coach knows he could get a major boost if he manages to recover James Rodriguez’s best version. It all depends on how badly he wants to return to the elite level we all knew from him back in 2014.

As per 101Goals, this is what Benitez said about James: “At the beginning of the pre-season, it is not easy. I think you can see he has the quality on the ball but still his fitness is not what we are expecting, so it is normal at this time. So, we will see, obviously, we have more training sessions and more games so we will see how he is going on and every player. It depends on them, if they can make a difference or not. But at the moment it is seeing how they progress and how they can improve but nobody can argue about the quality of James.”