Best Premier League Signings of 20/21 – West Ham man will surprise you
By A. Aden
James Rodriguez -Everton
An obvious choice here for all those keeping up to date with this Premier League season. Since coming to Merseyside, the Colombian playmaker has hit the ground running for Everton and Carlo Ancelloti and sprung the side comfortably to European contention early in the season but currently resides at 8 although 6 points away with a game in hand.
Rodriguez shining this season should come of no surprise to those who have followed his career footsteps since his burst onto the world stage with his spectacular play at the 2014 World Cup which earned him a spot on the 10-man shortlist for FIFA’s Golden Ball award, the Golden Boot award as the top goalscorer of the competition netting six times and a place in the World Cup All-Star XI.
All this success captured him a luxurious £63 million move to Real Madrid, a move that looked well worth in his debut season under Ancelloti as he scored 17 goals and grabbed 18 assists that campaign. Unfortunately, the magic faded once the manager had moved on and James found himself on the outside looking in.
A big reason in his current success resides in the ability to now play as a free-roaming 10 with the confidence in impacting the game almost solely on the offensive phase of play due to the fact that a formidable midfield pivot of Allan + Doucouré shores up much of the defensive burden that Rodriguez struggled to do in his previous stop in Madrid.
A nagging calf injury has kept him out of 12 games thus far which raises a few eyebrows to his previous health concerns when at Bayern Munich