Alex Iwobi is edging ever close to being shown the door at Goodison Park after Carlo Ancelotti overlooked the Nigerian forward against Newcastle United on Sunday, where Everton were without their star summer signing James Rodriguez.
Ancelotti favoured a change in shape to welcome additional central midfielders into the starting line-up in defeat to Steve Bruce’s Magpies, with Gylfi Sigurdsson and Andre Gomes offering the support to Dominic Calvert-Lewin with Richarlison still suspended.
Rodriguez was forced to sit out the Tyneside affair having failed to shrug a testicular injury sustained in the Merseyside Derby, but Everton chiefs remain confident the Colombian will win his race to be fit to face Manchester United this weekend, per the Liverpool Echo.
The former Real Madrid star is believed to be recovering well in the ramp-up to the Red Devils’ trip to Goodison on Saturday, allowing Ancelotti to be hopeful of recalling the 29-year-old after he missed his first Premier League fixture since joining the Blues.
Rodriguez has proven increasingly pivotal to Everton’s form this season, offering three goals and three assists in six top-flight matches, much to the delight of Ancelotti who has set out exacting demands for Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison to meet.
“I think James Rodriguez is going to help the strikers because he is a fantastic assist man,” said Ancelotti, via quotes by BT. “The target for Dominic is I hope he can reach 20 goals because he has the quality and ability, like Richarlison.
“With James at the time in Madrid, [Cristiano] Ronaldo scored 56 goals: I am not honestly going to ask Dominic to score 56 goals, but he has to try to do his best.
“We have two fantastic strikers and behind them, we have James and Sigurdsson. I think if they do not score at least 20 goals each they can have a problem with me. If I play as a striker and I have behind me James, Sigurdsson [and] Gomes, I can score goals and so they have to.”
Ancelotti’s support of Rodriguez’s talent comes in vast contrast to his apparent lack of belief in Iwobi, after snubbing the Nigerian who Marco Silva signed for up to £34million and moving away from having natural wingers on the field at Newcastle.
Going into Everton’s first defeat of the season at Southampton, Ancelotti stated that Iwobi would be offered the opportunity to play if Rodriguez was forced to sit out. But while the £50,000-per-week forward did start, he left an appalling impression and was hooked at the break.
“Alex is a player who works hard,” Ancelotti told the official Everton website. “He is fast and with his quality, he can help the team be better in certain situations.”
Those certain situations are appearing ever thinner, as Iwobi could only provide one shot, three unsuccessful crosses, complete one dribble, win four of seven ground duels and lose possession 13 times in the first half at Southampton. He then offered no shots, no dribbles, no accurate crosses, lost possession four times but offered a key ball against Newcastle, per SofaScore, having come on as a 76th-minute substitute.
Given Iwobi’s recent form when needed the most and now with just one start in six Premier League appearances, the outcast forward could soon be facing the axe permanently having already been touted for a potential departure this summer by the Mirror.
It was suggested that Iwobi was one of several fringe players that Everton were looking to offload after struggling to hit the ground running upon his arrival from Arsenal, with Director of Football Marcel Brands keen to trim the squad to a more manageable level.
Iwobi’s efforts in Everton’s recent fixtures will have done little to convince Brands and Ancelotti that he deserved to be retained, and another poor showing or again being overlooked against Manchester United if Rodriguez cannot be passed fit will surely be the final nail in his Toffees coffin.
AND in other news, Marcel Brands can build Everton’s dream unit with a gem who Carlo Ancelotti calls “one of the best”.
