Should Everton make current PSG and former Real Madrid player a transfer target?

Jese Rodriguez has had a hard time since leaving Real Madrid. The attacker had an unsuccessful spell at PSG last term followed by an underwhelming loan to Gran Canaria and Las Palmas. Now he is linked with Stoke, and at 24 years old this feels like a make or break year for him.

This is the potential Jese had just three years ago:

Absolutely brilliant performances were the norm during his time at Real Madrid and his move to PSG was well deserved, it seemed like he was a perfect wide player to complement Edison Cavani going forward.

His stats last season were honestly a mixed bag. Jese honestly didn’t play enough at PSG to make heads or tails of his ability (only one start). At Las Palmas, of his 1.9 shots per 90 last term that were not blocked (0.8 were blocked) 79% of them were on target. He had 0.9 open play key passes per 90 and completed 68% of his attempted dribbles. At Las Palmas they simply had bigger problems offensively than he was going to be able to cure, but he played pretty well.

The reality here is that Everton current ambitions seem to outstrip Jese’s ability, which is shocking because it says how far he has fallen in such a short period of time. If he were available very cheaply he would probably be worth a flyer just in case he pans out, but frankly when gauging the status of Spanish wide attackers, he’s not even in the same discussion as someone like Gerard Deulofeu.

I like Jese, and if his move to Stoke does go through, I wish him well there (when he’s not playing against Everton). But Stoke is a more appropriate level for him to try to save his career than a team looking to actually win anything in 2017.