Jack Rodwell lined up against his former club Everton in Sunderland colours at Goodison Park on Wednesday.
Jack Rodwell must have felt a twinge of regret as he lined up against the club where he started a once promising career in the EFL Cup on Wednesday night.
A decade ago, the Southport-born midfielder was seen as one of England’s brightest young talents and the most exciting player to emerge from Everton’s renowned youth academy since a certain Wayne Rooney.
However, it’s fair to say Rodwell has not followed the Croxeth native to the top of the European game. The very fact that Simon Grayson’s decision to hand him a rare start in Sunderland’s cup trip to Goodison Park was met with derision from some supporters says a lot about the trajectory of his career since he swapped Everton for Manchester City in 2012.
Rodwell had a few decent touches against his former club but, overall, was part of a Sunderland midfield that failed to lay a glove on their Premier League opponents across a 90 minute performance in which their 3-0 defeat was more than justified.
It was only the 26-year-old’s second appearance of the season in a toiling Black Cats side that has now lost four of their last five games in all competitions.
And Rodwell did little to give Grayson any symptoms of a selection headache.
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