Adios to the Part-Time Magician

A real shame us fans having never got to witness his talent live, especially in those first couple of months when he was flying and there was a massive buzz in the air.

But the facts are he was an ageing ex-superstar who made his name off special moments rather than being a consistent top-level performer in a career which has been plagued by injuries.

Add to the fact that Premier League football is being played faster and with more intensity than ever before for him to be an influence throughout the 90 minutes, week-in & week-out, was too big of an ask.

From my perspective I'm still a little disappointed I didn't get to see him live in a blue shirt. We haven't had too many world class players at Goodison since the heady days of the mid to late eighties. Andre Kanchelskis and Peter Beardsley are the only ones who came close.

From the club's perspective, James had clearly become a noose round our necks, with respect to Profit & Loss rules. Therefore, probably for the best.

Both switched off at that point and our season fell apart after so much promise, accompanied by Ancelotti explaining "He was not a magician".

And then another "nearly" moment in our recent history was blown again.

The last time I felt the same frustration about absences, was when Louis Saha seemed a regular absentee. For no good reason as it seemed at the time

Some players seem to need to feel 100% before every match. Kewell was similar for that lot!

Really good article, Lyndon.

Another good one here in The Guradian:

James Rodríguez and Everton was always a beautiful doomed marriage

If we were to tally up Blame vs Responsibility, there are many who have a proportion of Blame coupled with some Responsibility... from Kenwright, right through all the usual suspects, upto and including the recent dearly departed.

But when we tally up Responsibility vs Blame – there is only one winner: Moshiri.

You'd best deliver that new stadium, me laddo!

He left a few great memories – I can't help feeling that, if he'd played in a full stadium, he'd have "got" the club and things would have been different.

Still... time to move on.

The magicians – for me, there have been three at Everton in my time: Alex Young, Duncan McKenzie and briefly Rodriguez – need to feel valued and cherished.

There were times when Catterick seemed to despair of Young and his blisters, Gordon Lee was not McKenzie's number one fan and seemingly Benitez would prefer anyone to Rodriguez.

One understands how pragmatic managers who want effort and commitment prefer more journeyman performers, but God these magicians light up a stadium.

I'm sad that Rodriguez didn't take to living in England, that he didn't feel sufficiently needed at Everton, and I suppose this is the sensible ending, but I just wish...

I'm sorry to see him go but, if Benitez isn't going to use him, then it's best we get those wages off the books. He has certainly contributed a lot more in his short time here than Fabian Delph.

Despite enjoying his input to the important win at Anfield and a few other quality moments I'm afraid that I found his attitude towards our club insulting. A spoilt brat.

Also, those fans who think that, once he played at Goodison with supporters in the ground, that his attitude would have changed, are kidding themselves.

This is a very selfish man who has failed to live up to early promise. Apart from a calf problem, I think he has lacked the determination and drive to capitalise on his natural ability.

The fact that he is willing to play in Qatar and no other European club was willing to pay his wages says just how he is regarded in football circles.

James was a good player but was injured a lot of the time he was with us.

But the writing was on the wall with Ancelotti going (he was never the same after that break-in). He was a waning star, but at least he was ours... for a brief moment.

I'm in the “glad he's gone” camp but I must admit the summary you've given of his highlights did sway me a little.

Ultimately though, and this is one point you omitted, his “I'm not sure who we're playing this weekend” is the type of stuff that reaffirms my overall view that I'm glad he's gone, regardless of where the blame lies.

Onwards and upwards.

This spoilt brat mercenary isn't fit to lace their boots.

Glad to see the back of him.

Shows how far we've fallen over the years when average players are being held up against some of our best ever talents.

The fact that the only move that materialised for him this summer is to a side in Qatar suggests that those brief flickers of real quality last season were the dying embers of a strange career.

I just hope that we are in some kind of position next year – as other players run or hobble down their contracts – to address the lack of squad depth.

The last two results were not really wake-up calls... more a sad reminder of what we've seen all too often. We also look worryingly short of creative players now, particularly if Digne is ruled out for the weekend. Maybe Gordon can push on...

I think he has made a lot of money on his World Cup appearance in 2014, seven years ago, but has never consistently produced that form since, just now and again when he seemed to be bothered.

One was the derby at Anfield when he had a very good game while he was on the field. This game was shown to a worldwide audience on TV, why couldn't he produce this type of performance more often?

I'll be kind and say “His body wasn't fit enough”. For some, what he produced was plenty, even fleetingly; for others, we wanted more than just fleetingly. Each to his own opinion.

When you label Rodriguez as an average player, what do make of the rest of the current team?

How many players have you seen in a blue shirt that have been more talented than this average player?

Just curious.

It occurs to me more than previously, what an emotionally hollow experience it has been for players to perform in empty stadiums.

No attempt at any kind of excuse, but for the few/any like Rodriguez arriving and leaving in such an environment, there was never going to be any real connecting feel to a club; matches being more like an extrapolation of training.

This said, it was obvious in his early golden period, that James appeared very happy and bonded in the team, loved to play, loved to score.

A regrettable ending.

Average players don't win World Cup golden boots or play for Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.

I loved his no-look passes. I'm gutted we couldn't make it work; good luck to the lad.

If he was anything more than average, I'm sure he wouldn't be currently plying his trade in the football hotbed of Qatar.

Having watched many, many players wear the blue shirt since 1979, it would take me all day to list those who I would deem to be more talented than this mercenary.

What do I make of the current squad? It genuinely staggers me that over half a billion pounds has been spent in recent years and we have a squad that is a billion miles away from the Top 4. It's one of the poorest squads I can recall, not just in terms of technical ability, but the heart and desire to fight for results.

I can't think of one player that I have any affection for, which is sad really.

Hopefully he'll bring some quality in January now. Not as good as James though. Classy footballer on his day. Too big, perhaps for our small club...

Probably knows that himself, as he is off to a third-rate league where his abilities will shine.

Up until the Goodison derby, they were great times with James pulling the strings. One of the best players I've seen in our shirt outside of the 80s title-winning teams. Up there with Rooney and Kanchelskis for me as genuine top-notch players.

He didn't track back but you don't buy a Ferrari to go off-roading. We bemoaned a lack of creativity for years. Sad how it all panned out but the hope petering out encapsulates being an Evertonian.

As for the argument about class players at Everton, it is a great pity the younger members of TW never saw Alex Young at his best.

James Rodriguez is a player who, in my opinion, lovers of football should appreciate. On his game, he is the sort of player that time stands still for, such is the excellence of his touch, technique and vision to see and make a play lesser players are not capable of.

That said, I've equally seen him cough up easy possession and misplace short 5-yard passes that badly exposed Everton defensively which, if it had been someone like Tom Davies, would have had the wrath of TW crashing down on his head.

He is also a player who increasingly in his career is unavailable to play as he struggles with injuries. He clearly keeps himself in good nick – photos of him in the last year show him looking well ripped. But evidently he carries injuries the camera cannot reveal.

Things were going well up until mid-December last year. He missed just one game of our first 14 Premier League and League Cup fixtures through injury (rested in two early League Cup games), scoring 3 goals and making 4 assists.

He then missed 5 consecutive games over a busy December fixture list. Had a good run of games in January and February featuring in 7 of our 9 games. But from March onwards in 14 Premier League fixtures – more than a third of the season, plus the FA Cup tie vs Man City – he played just 5 more games.

Then we have the question of his salary. Widely reported as being something like £90k a week on signing and considered an exceptional coup by many, in recent weeks, that has inflated to £150k-200k-225k depending on who and what you read.

More, some have gone so far as saying the club is deliberately leaking this (mis)-information to garner support from Blues that he is an expensive indulgence we cannot afford to retain.

Both the true value of his salary, plus the claim that it is the club spoonfeeding the media these numbers, are purely speculative, not based on the truly known or the provable.

I recall on his signing, talk of Everton and James agreeing to a lower salary with him retaining full control over his image rights rather than the club taking a cut from this. This is no small matter. In July, it was revealed that Ronaldo was now the highest paid celebrity on Instagram and could command $1.6 million per sponsored post. James, with his tens of millions of followers, no doubt commands lesser, but still considerable, sums.

I don't follow the 'logic' some are applying that if you accept or support the club's decision to move him on that that some how makes you a fan who rejects the artist in preference to the artisan. Personally, I appreciate both and understand that a happy balance of diverse profiles makes for a successful winning football team.

Nor do I subscribe to the opinion expressed by some that this was a foolish recruitment and was ill-thought-out by the club. Rather, it was duplicating what more successful Premier League clubs have done for years. Our profile and sponsorship deals in the Americas improved as a result of recruting James.

There IS a plan in place to expand Everton into new markets, as this article from last week's Echo shows.

Everton's Six Point Expansion Plan

Some have used his departure as a vehicle to bash both Benitez and the club. I don't and I won't. There are a lot of circumstantial – and legitimate – reasons why he has gone.

The biggest regret I have in his brief sojourn at the club is that the match-going Evertonians never had a chance to view him in the flesh.

That is the greatest unknown for me in all this. Because who knows what might have resulted if both he and the fans had 'met' each other and forged genuine affection and appreciation for each other?

Probably the best and most reasonable post on any of the James threads.

I thought at the time that one of the advantages of Carlo coming to Everton would be that his name and reputation would attract the type of players we would otherwise not be able to attract (even though those players might be somewhat past their prime – eg, James) and those players of renown in turn would help, slowly, to attract further players of quality.

Sadly we didn't get the time to see all that possibly work out, given the limited transfer window opportunities before Carlo left.

I feel that this will be used as a stick to beat Benitez with and, if it is down to him, rightly so I feel. We need clarity on why he left, but our club is not good at clarity.

I also put on another thread that I believe Moshiri has now abandoned his dreams of Champions League football and is now more interested in increasing the club's value. I fully expect us in 5 years to be a mid-table side in a new stadium, and up for sale.

James was a gifted player with skills that could not be coached, but he needed other players to bring out the best in him.

With other teams he played for, plus his international team, he had quality players with the different type of skill levels that Everton could not provide. Once Ancelotti found out he may not receive large amounts of money to build a team, he was off.

James with playing in South America and other continents, was no shrinking violet, but finding at this stage in life in the Premier League, that it was getting hard to maintain his fitness levels through injuries after being a target for defenders and not getting a lot of protection from referees.

There were rumours he wanted to leave before Ancelotti left, and when Benitez was hired, with the knowledge he had of the style and commitment Benitez demands of his players, he realized there was no place for him at Everton, plus the lack of quality James needed to help his game.

There are no one-man bands in football anymore but you can have outstanding individuals, but they require quality help. It will be a long time before Everton get in enough quality players to compliment a player like James. Along with his fitness record, Everton were willing to let him go.

Your ability to digest information, balance it and present it in a factual, entertaining and thought-out manner is unmatched

Honestly, as one comment has said, you've summed up my own thoughts and feelings better than I could have.

I just don't know how our club is being run. From one summer, procuring James, to the next summer, spending £1.7M total. That in itself shows just how poorly we are being run and without any kind of proper or effective strategy.

If they can't be there for some very good reason, you'd like to think they are at home listening intently to a radio commentary of the match, or similar, like the rest of us.

I'm not naive enough to think that James is the first or last player we have had that cared far more about himself than the Club and fans paying his astronomical wages, but if he can't be bothered to support his team mates in person at the match every now and then… then I won't be shedding any tears of his departure to this backwater of World football.

In the cold light of day I think I still miss Eto'o more than I will Rodriguez.

There is a lesson in here somewhere.

I am ambivalent on his departure, while I see it making financial sense, you can't possibly have a player, albeit with mercurial talent, on Lottery Win Wages every week and not even on the bench for whatever reason.

I must admit the other side, that he did excite, mostly when played on the rare occasion and was a joy to watch. Whereas in some other games he was virtually anonymous. I don't suppose we will ever know the ins and outs of why he played so infrequently.

Was it through genuine injury? Was it 'dummy out of the pram' time? Or was there really a rift between him and Benitez? Mind you, having said that, he didn't exactly play every game under that hitherto rotter Carlo ("I am very happy here"?) Ancelotti either.

Then there are the commercial aspects, if we are to believe that we inherited so many Colombian and Worldwide supporters and everything that entailed (extra TV revenue, merchandise etc) plus the potential to attract other top players. Oh, wait a minute! We couldn't buy any because we were FFP cash-strapped. Total mismanagement from the top.

Now... where are those headache pills?

Now, even if Moshiri wished to waste even more money, FFP has caught up with the mismanagement he has failed to deal with. A Director of Football who seems to have no say on signings, which is the most important ingredient to success. James was never Brands's choice yet he accepted it and it has proven another very costly mistake.

Now the tap has been turned off, we're reduced to scraping the bottom of the barrel. Where lies Brands's vision, if he ever had one. This summer's acquisitions for the senior squad are straight out of Rafa's playbook. The DOF looks increasingly redundant as we continue to scout the likes of King, Rondon and Begovic.

Back to the origins of the thread, James is a very talented player. Unfortunately though his body is broken and his determination and bravery is gone; sadly this is indicative of most high-profile world-class highly paid players.

Maybe the likes of Messi and Ronaldo are blessed with a true love of the game, unlike our James...

Benitez is putting an emphasis on work and effort and, as the season progresses, I feel that a little extra is needed in quality and skill. An option that Everton now do not have and which I will have to live with.

No charge.

Chelsea and City steadily got there with expensive buys that didn't initially quite come off, but they kept doing it until it did. Speculate to accumulate as they say.

Okay, FFP has now made that approach more difficult and it's a different landscape. But to repeat myself, the simple fact is that if you want the best, you have to pay for it and they won't be here because they are Evertonians or want to play for the club. They're at a club to get paid well, play football and progress their career.

Eventually you get to a point when players want to play for the club, but the majority of the best will only want to be at the club if it is successful, is good for their career progression and allows them to fulfil their ambition to win.

If you want people who just want to play for the club, hire a sentimental fool like me for free!

Just read an article suggesting Rodriguez has a clause in his contract allowing him to leave his new club should PSG come calling. If it's true, I hope Everton benefit somewhere along the line.

It's like we're not allowed nice things. But James hurts more than all of them.