Six years ago today, James Rodriguez scored the goal against Uruguay, which won goal of the tournament and Puskas award. And the world thought they had a future Balloon D'Or winner. People were witnessing the birth of a legend. But something went wrong somewhere, it was not what was expected.
In 2014 after a Golden Boot winning World Cup campaign, Real Madrid bought the 22 year old Colombian for a whopping €80 million for a six year contract. He was not a necessary signing back then – few years later, he was not a necessary player at the club.
With the market now inflated by Neymar's €222m transfer from Barca to Paris Saint Germain, €80m may not seem such a significant outlay. But it was a lot of money in 2014 and, unfortunately, James never really lived up to the price tag.
If we look back we can say this was bound to happen. When Real Madrid signed him, the club were already deploying a 4-3-3 – a formation that has no place for the natural number 10. So there was no place for James from the very beginning itself.
He managed to score 28 goals and assist 27 times in the league while playing in 77 games over 3 seasons, out of which only 59 were starts. Most of the starts were in the first season the number gradually kept on reducing with the change in management.
In the summer of 2017 Bayern Munich announced the signing of James on a two-year loan with an option to purchase him for €35 million by the end of it, it stunned many given that his loan fee over the two years would be €10 million, taking the overall value of the deal at €45 million.
Bayern Munich had a midfield trio of Xabi Alonso, Arturo Vidal and Thiago Alcantara. With these three on the pitch, there was no place for a number 10. However, with the retirement of Alonso, there is an opening in midfield – but James is not the kind of player that could replace Alonso.
After two years without sufficient playing time, his loan spell was nearing its end and there was no concrete offer from any club surrounding his future. Real were not much interested to bring him back to Spain, and Bayern were making no noises that they were desperate to keep him, either.
Once again, his future was heading nowhere. When the summer came, a statement was released on Bayern's website announcing his departure and in it, the club wrote: 'The Colombia international asked the management at the German record champions not to take up the purchase option agreed with Real.
In reality, that suited both the player and club, and he headed back to Real for another crack of the whip in LaLiga refusing offers from China and Italy. But the Midfielder did not realize the list of forward players ahead of him in the pecking order is even longer.
Benzema, Eden Hazard, Vinicius Jr, Isco, Bale, Rodrygo, Lucas Vazquez, Luka Jovic etc etc
After returning to Real Madrid in 2019 season he could manage only 14 appearance in total with just one goal.
Now, at the age of 28, Rodriguez is being linked with a host of clubs from La Liga, Premier League, Serie A, MLS and even China.
He is only 28, and he still has plenty to offer. Manchester United is an option, Juventus were willing to get him for a cheap price. His previous manager Ancelotti is trying to land him at Everton.The other team interested in him is David Beckham's new-look Inter Miami. It was reported that Beckham has contacted Real Madrid about the possibility. James Rodriguez in one of his recent interview's had clearly mentioned he feels he has quite a lot left in him to deliver in Europe.
Where he goes next is as yet unclear, but what is for certain is that all eyes will be on him when he does make the move.
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