Everton have been given a boost in their pursuit of James Rodriguez, with Wolverhampton Wanderers turning their attentions away from the 28-year-old. According to Las2 Orillas, Wolves have ‘discarded’ signing James Rodriguez as he has poor ‘dedication in training’ and is a ‘spoiled child’ who needs excessive love from a manager.
Carlo Ancelotti is keen to renew acquaintances with James, having tried to sign him from Real Madrid when he was in charge of Napoli. The Colombian international looks on his way out of the Santiago Bernabeu this summer as he’s been out of favour under Zinedine Zidane, but whether Everton can get a deal over the line remains to be seen.
As per Transfermarkt, James has made 124 appearances for Real Madrid, scoring 37 goals and making 42 assists. In his two-year loan at Bayern Munich, he made 67 appearances and had a hand in 35 goals. Whether he’s willing to drop down to a side not playing in Europe remains to be seen.
The 28-year-old’s asking price has dropped from €50m (£43.47m) to €30m (£26.08m) but his salary demands may be in excess of £110k-per-week/£5.72m-a-year – more than Jordan Pickford, Morgan Schneiderlin, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Theo Walcott.
Everton are on the hunt for an attacking-midfielder as Sigurdsson could be offloaded this summer – Jack Grealish, Jesse Lingard and Philippe Coutinho have been linked. James is Ancelotti’s preferred pick, however, so Wolves moving on from him is great news.