The day they went on vacation, everything was normal: Carlo Ancelotti had credit before the Everton board despite not having the expected results to show, James Rodríguez and Yerry Mina were called up by the Colombian National Team for Qualifying and Copa América and they did not I expected the return within a long month.
But the holidays are over, this Monday all the players in the squad who do not play the Euro or the America Cup must appear and the ‘blue’ world, literally, took a 180 degree turn: the Colombian creative was called off from his national team by technical decision; Now the boss does not speak Italian but Spanish and although before he directed the rival in the yard, now he is in charge of the blue squad; He has a reputation for being radical, overly demanding and not fatherly, compared to his predecessor … And to top it off, he doesn’t have much of a good memory of James.
This Monday the Rafa Benítez era formally begins in Everton and on his agenda, with priority notice, is to resolve the situation of the left-hander, who has one year left on his contract and no certainty of what his future will be.
The concrete thing is that this Monday he must appear at Finch Farm for his first day of preseason. Is Benítez waiting for you? That is another discussion.
According to the Liverpool Echo newspaper, Ancelotti’s departure does not imply the Colombian’s automatic departure from the club: they are happy with his six goals and nine assists last season, and although they regret that injuries and the absence of the public had deprived him of a better relationship with the fans, they believe that those 24 games in the Premier League are a good starting point to get excited about this new assignment.
They know that Benítez’s issue is not a rose garden since the two coincided at Real Madrid in 2015 and for now they do not know if the Spaniard will have him or ignore him, as he did in the past.
The reason for the expectation is that at the end of last season, when he missed 5 of the last and final matches, Ancelotti had anticipated that the club’s medical department had a plan that would avoid so many absences. It remains to be seen if, in the face of the wave of rumors, that project comes to fruition and, more than that, if the new boss will have the patience to wait for it.
James’ environment is not optimistic and that is why, from the moment Ancelotti’s return to Real Madrid was announced, he got down to work to find a way out for him. Rumors point to an AC Milan that wanted him in the past and that now could catch him for an accessible figure of 10 million euros of transfer. The point is that with his high fees and frequent injuries, there are many reservations when it comes to signing a long-term contract. In fact, there is talk of Coutinho and even of the Spanish Isco as options for the vacant position if plan A fails, which would be Chelsea’s Ziyech, before the departure of Calhanoglu.
So, in the absence of confirmations, the only real thing is that James and Benítez will meet again this Monday. Will sparks fly or good wishes? The expectation is total.
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