Benitez warns James Rodriguez to adapt Everton’s new style of play

Arriving at 

Everton 

from 

Real Madrid

 in 2020 on a free transfer, the Colombian was 

 this summer as his agent, 

Jorge Mendes

, offered his client to Napoli, Atletico Madrid, and Milan with a transfer value of €10m to €20m.

With none of the clubs coming forward to make the deal happen, the 30-year-old midfielder was on the verge of joining Istanbul Basaksehir on loan. However, 

James 

elected to stay put at the club.

"He's training with the team. Obviously we have been talking about his future, we had some clubs interested. He still is here, he is training with the rest of the team-mates," 

Benitez 

told 

 when asked if James could feature for the first time in 2021-22.

"I was not in the conversations, I know there was some clubs interested. If the offer was good, you know the financial fair play rules that we have with salaries and to bring players in so it was important for us to create some space with other players but we couldn't manage that.

"The team is doing well, the players understand what we want to do and he has to understand that. Then we have to bring the best from each player, in this case he has to adapt to the team and then we will try to get the best from everyone."

On James’ transfer speculations, Benitez added: 

"It was not easy because he was available in the transfer window. Now he has realised he has to focus and show his commitment and it's what he is trying to do and that is good news for us.

"It is good news for us because he can give us something more, we don’t have any doubt about his quality but we have to be sure that we have players playing 90 minutes with intensity and the quality that they have."

Follow 

for the