Everton FC player Jack Rodwell
JACK Rodwell walked out of Liverpool John Lennon airport this lunchtime wearing the Everton FC badge on his chest for the last time.
The 21-year-old was still decked out in his club tracksuit as he made the flight home from Southern Spain, where he was an unused substitute during Everton’s friendly defeat by Malaga last night.
Alone on a morning flight full of hung-over Evertonians – and this reporter – the midfielder had politely answered questions about his future being careful to say nothing much at all amid speculation of Premier League Champions Manchester City’s interest.
Then the Easyjet flight touched down, mobile smart phones went on, and suddenly he was being told by fellow passengers that Everton’s website had confirmed he was Manchester bound while he’d been in mid-air.
In fact Rodwell was a young man in a hurry. The Etihad stadium was his destination for a medical which, if passed, will make him inordinately wealthy.
He had not agitated for a move, but he certainly had not objected either when the possibility was presented to him late last week.
Few could blame the Birkdale lad who made his Toffees debut aged just 16, and in the end few will be too perturbed about his departure.
For Everton, a club which has acknowledged its requirement to follow a transfer policy based on player trading, it represents a decent deal.
Rodwell made just 17 appearances last season, one of which coincidentally was an astute marking job on David Silva in East Manchester which did not go unnoticed by Roberto Mancini.
Indeed since 2007 he has made just 85 appearances in a royal blue shirt and scored four goals. Rodwell has rarely been guaranteed a first-team place at Goodison, despite making his full England debut last November.
It is no reflection on his undisputed talent. Rodwell is an elegant player with the height and athleticism to tick the boxes of many modern scouting manuals, and seems suited to international football.
Yet often he has failed, perhaps under the burden of expectation at times, to really sparkle consistently in the heat and hustle of Everton’s midfield.
Five Filters recommends: Incinerating Assange – The Liberal Media Go To Work.
For more stories like this, delivered straight to your PC, please subscribe to the RSS feed or the daily insider newsletter. Click here to read football fan reviews of Everton golfing umbrellas.