There were plenty of shocks and surprises in 2020 but in the football world at least, the sight of James Rodriguez arriving at Goodison Park was up there, yet the Colombian superstar was ultimately to become the greatest player that Evertonians never saw. If a week is considered a long time in politics – a single morning at Balmoral Castle was hectic enough yesterday – two years in the Premier League can seem like a relative epoch and the events of September 7, 2020, when James joined Everton now seem in many ways like some wild coronavirus-induced dream.
The playmaker was of course teaming up with his old mentor Carlo Ancelotti for the third time in his career after the Italian had previously signed him for Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. He even admitted at the time: “That was a massive reason to come here.” In terms of pedigree, James could make a strong case for being one of the most gifted players to have ever donned the royal blue jersey having won the Golden Boot at the 2014 World Cup finals, a tournament in which many thought he was also the outstanding individual performer in, despite the sop of handing Lionel Messi the Golden Ball even though the legendary Argentinian failed to find the net beyond the group stages.
It was an honour that James shared with England’s Gary Lineker, who was top scorer at the 1986 World Cup, his last acts as an Everton player as he was sold for £2.8million to Barcelona after the finals in Mexico and following a solitary 40-goal season at Goodison. In terms of what they achieved in club football, Wayne Rooney, who bookended his Premier League career with two shorts stints at his beloved boyhood heroes either side of a record-breaking 13-year spell at Manchester United, plus Samuel Eto’o, who enjoyed a glittering career before an even more fleeting stay with the Blues, find themselves at the summit in the 'show us your medals' stakes.
