It has been revealed that Everton came close to re-signing Jack Rodwell from Manchester City at least a season-long loan deal. The former blue has found it difficult to get first team opportunities at City due to the presence of players like Yaya Touré and Fernandinho. Further, he has also been suffering from numerous injury problems throughout his career. Rodwell is understood to have been keen to play regular first-team football with the World Cup coming up in less than a few months. Since Manuel Pellegrini has been unable to use him ahead of Touré and Fernandinho, a loan deal was viewed as the ideal solution for both parties.
Everton were interested in taking him on a loan deal, but were unable to do so due to Premier league rules. According to the rules, a club cannot have two players on loan from a single club. Hence, Everton decided to buy Gareth Barry, who is already on at Goodison Park, on a permanent basis so that they could bring Rodwell on a loan deal. It is understood that they offered around £ 1 million for Barry, but City are unable to accept the offer since they could not agree a deal to bring Fernando from FC Porto.
The Portuguese club placed a £ 40 million pricetag on Fernando’s head.
“It’s important to understand we have performed really well this season. The summer window is very different to the January window. The January window is a gamble. That means you can go for players no-one expects to be available or, if your season has not been good enough, you need to gamble to change things around. If you look at the top performing teams then Manchester City have not signed anyone and Arsenal bought one player as cover,” said Martinez after the transfer window.