Ever since James Rodriguez rocked up at Everton last summer, we’ve learned a lot about the Colombian media and their obsession with him.
Rodriguez is his country’s biggest name and, even when he’s not playing for the national side, he’s a man who fills plenty of column inches and air time.
That’s definitely been the case this summer, with the player out of favour with the national team and seemingly on his way out of Everton as well.
MARCA cover the midfielder today and his future at Goodison Park, explaining that Rodriguez has a few weeks to sort out his future and resolve the ‘complicated situation’ he is facing at Everton.
Rafa Benitez’s arrival has apparently ‘alerted’ Rodriguez to the ‘urgency of the matter’ as this season is shaping up to be the ‘darkest of the Colombian’s career’.
There are several reasons for that fact, chief among them being that Benitez has made it ‘abundantly clear’ that Rodriguez is not to his ‘idea and taste’.
His first year at the club is another issue as MARCA say that he ‘failed to convince’ during last season.
According to them, his arrival was one ‘filled with illusion’, but after a very good start, constant injuries kept him out and frustrated everyone.
Those ‘unfulfilled expectations’ are about to be revived this season, and that ‘high idea’ coupled with a coach who doesn’t want him is ‘frustrating’ to say the least.
This all ties into his future with the Colombian National Team, where he is currently out of the picture and fighting his way to be back in.
Rodriguez needs to be playing regularly if he is to convince Reinaldo Rueda to bring him back into the fold, but if he has ‘little chance to perform’ at Everton, that’s not going to happen.
Thus the national team, which was once Rodriguez’s ‘refuge’, has now become a ‘closed door’ and the fact the situation is out of his hands is unlikely to help the player’s mood.
He really doesn’t want to spend a season sitting on the sidelines or at home, which MARCA believe is the prospect if he can’t get out of Everton.
That was what happened at Real Madrid, where the world could see the ‘most depressing version’ of the player, and it is something he does not want to repeat.
Thus there is an ‘urgency to change teams’ this summer, with a stay at Everton set to bring a ‘season more tragic’ than his last with Real Madrid.
