Premier League side Everton are one of the clubs interested in signing Real Madrid midfielderJames Rodriguez in the January tranasfer window.
The Tofees manager Carlo Ancelotti is interested in linking up with Rodriguez after both of them worked together at Madrid and Bayern Munich. The Italian was in charge when he made the £63million move to the Bernabeu in 2014 before joining Bayern on a two-year loan deal in 2017. The 28-year-old, however, failed to earn a permanent move to the Bundesliga giants.
The Colombian, who is rated at £43m, has only played nine times in all competitions for Zinedine Zidane’s side this season after falling down the pecking order at the Santiago Bernabeu. He is also free to leave Los Blancos in January after fallen out of favour with Zidane. Rodriguez hasn’t started a game since the 1-0 defeat to Mallorca in the middle of October.
Everton chiefs had promised to provide funds for Ancelotti in the transfer window after he agreed to become the club’s new manager earlier in the month. Now the Italian has set his sights on a move for Rodriguez, who he tried to sign for Napoli during the summer window.
Ancelotti had earlier said that Everton will not be targeting a new striker next month, but he has now set out to strengthening his squad in other areas.
And according to Spanish publication El Desmarque, Everton are leaing the reace to sign the playmaker from Madrid in January. The report claims that the Colombian has also been linked to Arsenal, Inter Milan, Roma, Napoli and Marseille.
The same report suggests that Zinedine Zidane would accept an offer in the region of £43m but the club is keen on keeping Rodriguez until at least next summer.
