'Surprise' claim emerges on 'high profile' star returning to Everton

James Rodriguez making a return to Everton would be a major surprise, says journalist Pete O’Rourke.

The 30-year-old left the Toffees for Qatari side Al-Rayyan at the start of the season but has refused to rule out rejoining his former club in the future.

While Rodriguez only recently joined Al-Rayyan, the 82-cap Colombia international has already been speaking about a transfer and playing for Everton again one day.

Speaking on Twitch (via MailOnline), he said: “It’s a spectacular club, the fans are incredible, but I ran into a coach who didn’t want to count on me. I wanted to be there. Unfortunately, the coach didn’t want to count on me.

“But I’d come back, why not, I left everything, I always trained, worked and the Everton fanbase is very big and supports well.”

During his sole season at Goodison Park, Rodriguez made just 23 league appearances after picking up injuries, making it a disappointing spell on Merseyside overall.

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O’Rourke has told GIVEMESPORT that he would be shocked if Everton ended up re-signing Rodriguez.

Speaking to GMS, the transfer insider said: “I’d be majorly surprised if James Rodriguez was to return to Everton. Obviously he was a big, high-profile signing when he did join the club.

“Although it was a relatively cheap transfer fee, his contract was a pretty big one and Everton needed to trim the wage bill and reduce costs to fit in with FFP.”

No. As already mentioned, his first stint at Goodison did not really work out, while Everton look to have moved on.

While Dele Alli has not hit the ground running following his move from Tottenham, failing to make a start so far, you would expect the 25-year-old to become the team’s primary No.10