Former Everton star Michael Ball has told Football FanCast that the club need more players like James Rodriguez if they are to be successful.

The Toffees managed to sign the Colombia international from Real Madrid last summer.

BBC Sport reported at the time that they paid around £12m to sign the playmaker and he has gone on to enjoy an excellent season for Carlo Ancelotti’s men.

James has scored six goals and laid on nine assists in 25 games in all competitions, even though he has struggled with injuries.

Ball has enjoyed watching the former Bayern Munich star play for the Toffees but he is acutely aware that he cannot be relied upon to play 38 games a season in the Premier League.

As such, he has urged Everton to try to bring in more players of the same quality as Rodriguez as they look to take the next step and potentially qualify for Europe next season.

The Toffees’ loss to Aston Villa at the weekend, a game Rodriguez missed, has left them nine points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.

Speaking exclusively to FFC, Ball said: “We know we can’t rely on James, who’s only been playing 60-70 minutes and he’s missed a lot of football games. So we need players like him to come to the football club if we want to start being successful.

“At the end of the day, it does cost a lot of money to bring these top quality players in.

“Yes, you’d like to bring your youth in as well but that does take time and I feel with Carlo coming to the football club, he wants to be winning yesterday, he wants players to come in straight away and to be successful.”