Tim Vickery claims Everton ace will be ‘licking his lips’ if they sign ‘classy’ player

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South American football expert Tim Vickery has told Sky Sports that Everton fans should be ‘excited’ about signing James Rodriguez and someone like Richarlison will be ‘licking his lips’ at the prospect of working with him.

Sky Sports have reported that the Colombian international, along with Allan of Napoli, are closing in on an eye-catching double move to Goodison Park.

For many years now, under Roberto Martinez, Ronald Koeman and Marco Silva, Everton have splashed the cash on talent, but it’s resulted in them standing still or going backwards.

Vickery, who has followed Rodriguez’s career from the beaches of South America to the beaming pressured lights of the Bernabeu thinks that the Toffees are signing a ‘classy” player.

“The one to be excited about is James Rodriguez, the breakout star of the 2014 World Cup – that player is still there,” Vickery told Sky Sports. “He was only 22 then, he’s 29 now and it almost feels like his career has been stalled ever since. A victim of stockpiling, there’s only so many players that can be important in the Real Madrid line-up.

“James is a very, very classy player perhaps not quick enough not with the express pace to fit into the Real Madrid system. At Everton, he has got everything he wants. He has got a coach who knows him well and admired and respects him, and Ancelotti worked with him in his best season at Real Madrid as well, his first season, and also took him to Bayern on loan.

“Ancelotti knows what James can do. He’s a good fit for the way Everton like to line up at the moment. You can imagine James in a wide position in a 4-4-2 or in a deeper central role arriving with an element of surprise.

“If I was Richarlison I would be licking my lips at this because you could imagine James reproducing the partnership with Richarlison that he had with Radamel Falcao for the Colombia national team.”

Whilst Gylfi Sigurdsson has had his moments in an Everton shirt, last season he completely fell off a cliff and his performances perhaps summed up the lacklustre displays produced by the team.

It’s clear that fresh impetus is needed in the middle of the park for Carlo Ancelotti and it’s interesting, as well as brave, that he is pushing for the signature of a player yet to fulfil his potential despite him breaking onto the scene in 2014 and now at the age of 29.

Rodriguez has shown in pockets that he is a top talent, but unfortunately, he has not done it on a regular basis, hence why his career at Madrid is seemingly over.

There’s no doubt that his potential arrival is injecting some excitement for those on the blue half of Merseyside and it was needed given that they had to watch their neighbours lift the Premier League title after 30 years.