According to an exclusive report coming from The Mirror, Carlo Ancelotti is interested in sealing an audacious loan move for Real Madrid's outcast, James Rodriguez.

What's the word, then?

The new Everton boss has already worked with the Colombian playmaker back during his stints at both Real Madrid and Bayern Munich where the 28-year-old attacking midfielder was on loan.

And now, he's looking to bring him to Goodison Park on another loan spell.

The same source claims that Rodriguez has largely failed to make the necessary impact at the Santiago Bernabeu and Zinedine Zidane doesn't have him in his long-term plans.

For that reason, Everton might just have what it takes to seal this bold deal and take him to England.

A dying breed

Even though it might sound rather harsh, players of Rodriguez's mould are seemingly falling out of favour in the Spanish capital.

The start to the 2019/20 campaign was decent for the 28-year-old playmaker as he managed to tally a somewhat consistent run of games, even scoring and assisting once in the process.

But soon he was frozen out once again and due to other circumstances - like his injuries - he has only mustered 422 minutes across nine games in all competitions so far.

And intriguingly enough, he's not the only attacking midfielder suffering from that issue at Real Madrid.

Both Isco and Brahim Diaz, the remaining no.10s in the quad, are facing the same fate at the moment, with the former sitting on 708 minutes and the latter on just 40.

Zidane has mostly used a standard 4-3-3 formation in the ongoing campaign and the more advanced playmakers, such as the three mentioned players above, simply don't have a clear role in that system.

Instead, the likes of Federico Valverde have risen to prominence as the young midfielder gives a well-balanced output to the team that a standard attacking midfielder struggles to offer.

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A move to Everton, for that reason, might even be desirable.

Ancelotti could find a way to incorporate the Colombian into his squad and maximise his skill set. So far, we've seen him take charge of four games on the new job, using four different systems in the process.

With both Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin's resurgence - seeing how the former has bagged seven and the latter eight goals in the Premier League - maybe the Toffees could actually be a good place for Rodriguez to return to his very best.

Gylfi Sigurdsson has been underwhelming so far this season, scoring just one goal and providing one assist in the league so far, and the arrival of a new playmaker could be exactly what Ancelotti needs to breathe new life into the Toffees.

And an increase in competition for places could actually push the Iceland international to resurrect his stuttering form.

With previous experience working alongside the player, Ancelotti probably has a good reason for targeting him in the first place.

Elsewhere, many Everton fans thought Ancelotti made a wrong move against Liverpool...