Everton will be in heaven thanks to the form shown from James Rodriguez since his summer transfer from Real Madrid, after he shone once again as his side drew 2-2 with Liverpool in Saturday’s Merseyside Derby.

Rodriguez departed the Santiago Bernabeu to begin a new life in England and reunite with former head coach Carlo Ancelotti at Goodison Park, in a deal which his ex-side Banfield confirmed was a free transfer.

Reports had suggested Everton paid in the region of £12m to £20million to complete the 29-year-old’s move to Merseyside, however his former Argentine outfit soon noted that they would have been due a sell-on fee had cash changed hands this summer.

Real Madrid have also suffered with anxiety since sanctioning the deal, with reports by AS, via Sport Witness, claiming Los Blancos chiefs felt the Colombian would have still been ‘very useful’ to their efforts but was ‘discarded’ by manager Zinedine Zidane just like Gareth Bale, Sergio Reguilon and Dani Ceballos.

The Spanish giants are said to be ‘upset’ at how well Rodriguez has since taken to the Premier League, and will have felt that pain again this weekend when he recorded his third assist of the season as Michael Keane turned home his corner.

Rodriguez has also recorded three goals in the English top-flight and one assist in the Carabao Cup, whilst starting each of his six outings across all competitions and only missing 28 of a possible 540 minutes of game time through late substitutions.

Ancelotti and Director of Football Marcel Brands’ decision to bring Rodriguez to the Premier League, despite him making just eight appearances for Real Madrid in last season’s La Liga campaign, continued to look a wise move on Saturday, when the £31.5m-rated ace stood out against The Reds.

Rodriguez earned SofaScore’s best match rating at 8.1 out of 10 as the only player for either side to perform above Mohamed Salah’s 7.7/10 and Lucas Digne and Keane’s 7.6/10 performances.

The Colombian star did not gather possession as much as Ancelotti would have liked with just 65 touches compared with Thiago Alcantara’s game-high 99, Jordan Henderson’s 79, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s 78, Andrew Robertson’s 72 or Fabinho’s 68. Yet, he used his time on the ball well to fashion the game’s joint-most key passes (3) while finding teammates with three of his six attempted crosses and six of his seven long balls.

Cucuta-born Rodriguez also won a combined 10 duels with nine successful ground battles from 16 contests and one from one aerial battle. He was further fouled four times, made two tackles, struck one of two shots on target and was successful with each of his three attempted dribbles.

Rodriguez’s efforts against Liverpool ensured he remained Everton’s most productive creator with five big chances forged in the Premier League this season, while ranking first for key balls (16), accurate final third passes (62) and second to Digne (12) for accurate crosses (8).

AND in other news, Carlo Ancelotti must regret starting a £21.6m-rated man vs Liverpool after his challenging performance.