Lampard laments James loss: “We don’t have anyone like him”
The Everton coach hailed the Colombian and acknowledged that there are no players with his characteristics in the squad.
It’s been more than a year since James Rodríguez left Everton for Al Rayyan. After his first and only season in the Premier League, and after the arrival of Rafa Benítez on the Toffees bench, September 2021 saw the Colombian leave England and sign for the Qatari team.
The midfielder is currently shining for Olympiacos in Greece, providing both goals and assists, but at Everton memories of the Colombian still persist. Recently, the manager, Frank Lampard, spoke about James and the absence of a footballer like him in his squad.
When asked about the possibility of changing the line-up to include a midfielder who connects with Dominic Calvert-Lewin (who has now returned from injury), as Carlo Ancelotti did with James in the 2020/2021 season, the coach acknowledged to not having anyone with the characteristics of the number 10 available.
“James was a very particular type of player, the type of player that in all honesty we don’t have right now and that’s just that. It’s either finding other ways to connect the team so Dominic is not isolated in how he plays and making sure we play between lines well enough”, Lampard said during a press conference.
Wearing the Everton shirt, Rodríguez scored 6 goals and provided 9 assists in 26 games. 19 of those games were alongside Calvert-Lewin who in the 20/21 campaign managed to score an impressive 21 goals.