If there’s one way to not impress the new man in charge, it’s to turn up for pre-season and not be anywhere close to the fitness levels demanded by a Premier League club, but that’s precisely what’s happened at Everton.
Rafael Benitez has already got the spotlight shining brightly upon him, and if he’s going to make a success of being manager of the Toffees, then he needs all of his major stars playing their part.
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James Rodriguez hasn’t started off on the best foot, and though the Spaniard will let the Colombian leave if an attractive offer comes in, he hasn’t closed the door on the player either.
Clearly, however, he’ll need to work hard to get back in the manager’s good books.
“At the beginning of the pre-season, it is not easy,” Benitez was quoted as saying after Everton’s Florida Cup workout, cited by the Liverpool ECHO.
“I think you can see he has the quality on the ball but still his fitness is not what we are expecting, so it is normal at this time.”
With only a few weeks left until the start of the new season, clearly the Colombian’s situation will need to be sorted out one way or the other.