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TBR View – Everton’s signing of James Rodriguez will have Sam Allardyce giddy
Everton have just completed one of the coups of the transfer window so far, bringing in James Rodriguez on a two-year deal from Real Madrid.
The Colombian, once considered the third-best player in the world behind Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, is undoubtedly an eye-catching capture who has been lured to Goodison Park by the opportunity to work with Carlo Ancelotti again.
But this is a deal that has all the hallmarks of one former Everton boss.
Sam Allardyce would have loved this deal, in particular during his Bolton Wanderers heyday.
During that time, the Trotters boss helped to convince the likes of Youri Djorkaeff, Fernando Hierro, and Hidetoshi Nakata to come and play their football at the Reebok Stadium.
Bolton became a rehab centre for failing or aging star players and Allardyce, for all the criticism of his style of play Everton fans rightly levelled at him during his time at Goodison, unleashed these talents onto the Premier League in some style.
Most famously, perhaps, it was Jay-Jay Okocha who was most rewarded by working with Allardyce, becoming one of the Premier League’s all-time cult heroes.
Nicolas Anelka, another mercurial star, was lured back from Fenerbahce to English football by Allardyce. Big Sam even came within a signature of signing the great Rivaldo, before he went to enjoy an Indian summer at Olympiakos, via a brief stint at Cruzeiro.
Rodriguez has all the makings of a similar tale. Everton have a wonderful talent who just needs to be loved, kept fit and, most of all, set free and a cult hero could be born.
If that then leads to European football and some long-overdue silverware, then this Big Sam like signing will go down as one of Everton’s best ever.