Striker Richarlison has said that the untimely exit of star forward James Rodriguez seriously disrupted Everton's season.
Colombian Rodriguez left Goodison Park in September, joining Qatari side Al-Rayyan for an undisclosed fee.
And Blues favourite Richarlison admitted that his departure, along with the exit of other key players, contributed to the unravelling of Everton's campaign, eventually leading to the sacking of manager Rafa Benitez.
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Speaking in an interview with TNT Sports, the Brazilian said: "When I arrived from the Olympics, I was even surprised at how much he (Rodriguez) was running and dedicating himself to training, training well.
"And out of nowhere, the coach (Benitez) said he didn’t count on him anymore. And nobody understood anything.
“So I think that also weighed a little on the group. Because we know about James’ quality. Also from (Lucas) Digne, who we ended up losing. So it weighs, it weighs. Like it or not, it weighs on the group.
"We had a united group there and ended up losing two important players. So I think that’s it. James, we wish him all the best.
“And that’s it. We lost Bernard too, who was an important player.
"And it’s like I said, we had everything to reach the Europa League or the Champions League and we lose players so easily. Lose players through injury too. It ends up making competition difficult.”
Despite former Liverpool manager Benitez' lack of popularity during his short spell at Goodison Park, Richarlison insisted that the Spaniard had been unlucky with injuries and had been unable to make the signings he wanted to replace big-name departures.
