Everton have been told to trust the judgement of Carlo Ancelotti in their pursuit of Real Madrid forward James Rodriguez.
Ancelotti has discussed a move for the 29-year-old with the board at Goodison Park but Dave Prentice admits he has reservations about a big-money transfer.
Rodriguez is into the final year of his contract at Madrid but made just 14 appearances in all competitions last season under Zinedine Zidane, starting five times in La Liga.
With wages reportedly in excess of £200,000-per-week, Prentice toyed with the idea of his signing on the latest episode of the Royal Blue Podcast.
"You think of that goal he scored at the World Cup, you think of that wonderful World Cup tournament he had, and you're excited initially because he is a name and a marquee player," Prentice said.
"But that is immediately tempered because he is 29, you look at his appearance record last season, one goal, and he was largely selected in Copa Del Rey games and made nine or 10 La Liga appearances.
"Okay, we're talking a team with incredible quality and is he better than what we have at the football club at the moment? Of course he is. But is he worth what what would be a huge outlay in terms of wages?
"I'm not so sure. You have to trust the manager's judgement on this. Clearly Ancelotti knows far more about him than we do and he is confident those reservations I have just expressed can be wiped away.
"There's a little bit of excitement but I'm not entirely sure personally."
Sam Carroll believes Rodriguez would bring a much-needed mentality shift should Ancelotti land the man he desires as Everton search for a left-footed right-winger.
"t's difficult, isn't it, because this isn't really what we brought Marcel Brands in to do," he added. "We're going to have a player until he's 32, 33, 34, with a very limited re-sale value but on the other hand, we've came this far.
"We have one of the best managers of all time, do we have to put our faith in him? If Carlo is pushing it strong enough and wants him, and Marcel can work a bit of magic, it would make sense.
"It is a player with unbelievable quality, unbelievable experience and a big thing we're missing is at the moment is mentality. He's going to come in with that Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, World Cup mentality about him.
"He's not going to be fazed by your Anfield, your Etihad, your Old Trafford. That's something we greatly miss."
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