Carlo Ancelotti has been reunited with an old pal, as James Rodriguez has signed for Everton.
The top form periods of James’ club career have come under the tutelage of Ancelotti, who led the Colombian to a tremendous season at Real Madrid before bringing him to Bayern Munich.
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James, 29, has 18 goals and 19 assists in 51 appearances under Ancelotti, most of them coming at Real. He had a goal and an assist in his only Bundesliga start for Bayern, which came nine days before the Italian was fired.
He brands himself “a real winner” and is ready to do plenty of it in the Premier League after capturing league titles with Porto, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich and winning the Europa League and Champions League at the first two mentioned, respectively. From Evertonfc.com:
He’s put up numbers wherever he’s gone and has a goal and five assists in his last 10 caps for Colombia, and was named to the Champions League Team of the Season as recently as 2017-18. A fresh start with a friendly boss would be a great way to see if the 29-year-old could fully realize his star potential.
James had also been linked to Manchester United and MLS side Inter Miami but the Everton links are even older.
How will he fare? At least as well as Gylfi Sigurdsson, though whether James’ days of being a game-changing superstar are still in the offing could be the difference between Everton being a mid-table side and challenging for the top six.
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🇨🇴 | It's official... @jamesdrodriguez is a Blue! 🔵#AlóJames pic.twitter.com/hNDsLvtqtT
— Everton (@Everton) September 7, 2020