Carlo Ancelotti says Everton were only interested in signing players who did not need any convincing about joining the club. James Rodriguez is one of the three senior additions Ancelotti has made to his squad and the Colombian superstar said he held no reservations about leaving Real Madrid for Goodison.
Carlo Ancelotti said “We were looking not only for these three players, because when the market is open you are looking for the others, but there is a key question when you talk to a player – do you really want to come? This is a key question, they can say yes I really want to come, or say maybe I can think about it. These three players they said ‘I want to come’ and this is the reason – I want to have players who have desire to come to the club – full stop. If they say this, this can move on because it is simple I want players who want to come.”
James Rodriguez said “No, I didn’t have any reservations [about joining] – I look around me and see winners at this club I see winners in the backroom staff and I am really positive about the task ahead. As everyone knows, I played little last year and so I spoke to Carlo and I think it was good for me to be able to play again. I see it’s a club with fans with passion too. When I spoke to him, I said yes, it wasn’t, ‘Well, I’ll think about it and then I’ll tell you’. I said yes then. It was the right thing for me because I can play now.”
Carlo Ancelotti believes acquisition of 29-year-old Rodriguez will open up greater possibility for Everton to play with different formations this season.
Carlo Ancelotti said “James Rodriguez has the quality of a number 10, but in Madrid in my first season he did a fantastic season as a midfielder on the left of Toni Kroos, and he can play on the right as a winger, he can play anywhere but he is not going to play as a defender, that is for sure.”
Earlier in the window, Ancelotti had asked the club’s board to try and sign Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg from Southampton but despite Everton making their admiration for the midfielder clear, he had his sight set on joining Sunday’s opponents Tottenham Hotspur. Ancelotti said Rodriguez, Allan and Abdoulaye Doucoure were the club’s “priorities” but acknowledged that there were alternative targets on their short-list yet stressed that he was only focused on players who made it clear they wanted to join Everton.
