James Rodríguez spent over a year at Everton before leaving them for Qatari side Al-Rayyan in September 2021.
The attacking midfielder enjoyed a good debut season in England, managing six goals and nine assists from 29 matches.
In the summer of 2021, Carlo Ancelotti left for Real Madrid and Everton replaced him with Rafael Benítez. The latter made it complicated for the 31-year-old, which resulted in his exit from the Merseyside club.
Everton sacked with Benítez a year ago and appointed Frank Lampard as his successor. He was also shown the exit door earlier this week.
The Colombia international has revealed he would have wanted to continue at the Premier League side, this was during a conversation with Portuguese futsal player, Ricardinho.
“I was at Everton for a year but I would have liked it to be longer… it went well, very well, I’m leaving due to a coach, because if not, I would stay,” Rodríguez said, as quoted by Caracol Radio.
“The coach [Benítez] told me on the first day of preseason ‘you are old, you are already 30 years old, I prefer to have young people, with energy. So, find yourself a club’. I told a leader, after three months he will be out, I have already worked with him.
“I told him after three months look for me and after three months he [Benítez] was already out. Then came Lampard, he has won some games and has managed to save the club.”
During his time at Everton, the South American picked up a few injuries, which didn’t help him find a club in Europe. This, coupled with Qatar hosting the World Cup in 2022, convinced him to join Al-Rayyan.
“I went to Qatar because at Everton the coach no longer wanted me and I didn’t want to be unable to play,” Marca quoted him as saying.
“That year I had a couple of physical problems and the clubs that wanted me in Europe, due to physical problems, couldn’t give a salary like the one I had. I thought about Qatar because the World Cup was coming up and I thought Colombia was going to go.”
Last summer, Rodríguez left Al-Rayyan and joined Olympiacos.
