When Carlo Ancelotti took over at Goodison Park the veteran tactician wasted no time in reuniting with a supremely gifted number ten who played some of the best football of his career under the Everton manager.
And Rafa Benitez, a coach who followed in Ancelotti’s footsteps at Inter Milan, Chelsea, Real Madrid and now Everton, could be about to take a leaf out of the Italian’s book once more.
Because, if you believe the speculation, Ancelotti’s marquee signing could soon be replaced on the blue half of Merseyside by the first high-profile addition of the Benitez era.
But while James Rodriguez was at the peak of his playmaking powers under Ancelotti in Madrid, Lorenzo Insigne was far from the finished article when Benitez was settling into the Napoli dugout almost a decade ago.
A man who scored 19 goals and produced another 11 assists last season before firing Italy to Euro 2020 glory was far from prolific back then. All promise and potential rather than proven, top-level talent.
But Benitez knew from day one that Napoli had someone special at their disposal, a 5ft 4in pocket rocket who has come closer than anyone to emulating the legendary Diego Maradona at the Stadio San Paolo.
Will Insigne and Benitez be reunited at Everton?
It was Benitez who turned Insigne from a striker into a winger.
It was Benitez who taught Insigne to do the dirty work too, instilling in him a ferocious work ethic that would one day make the little winger a key player under Maurizio Sarri, Roberto Mancini and Ancelotti himself.
“I never had any sort of problem with Benitez and I owe him a lot because he helped me develop the defensive side of my game,” Insigne said following the Spaniard’s 2015 departure.
“I used to be a pure striker and his 4-2-3-1 formation that turned into a 4-4-2 really helped me improve in that area.
“I feel more faith from the coach compared with (previous manager) Walter Mazzarri.”
That’s not to say Insigne will jump at the chance to reunite with Benitez at Goodison Park. As he proved during Euro 2020, this is a footballer who belongs at the very top of the game, not at a club that finished tenth in the Premier League last season.
And while James Rodriguez found himself at a bit of a loose end last summer – desperate for a fresh start after being bombed out of the Bernebeu – Napoli are desperate to tie their influential captain down to a new, long-term contract.
But Benitez, like Ancelotti before him, gives Everton the sort of pulling power they could only have dreamed of in the pre-Moshiri era.
No one expected James to sign on at Gwladys Street. Who’s to say history won’t repeat itself 12 months later?
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