It’s safe to say James has not had the best of seasons with Real Madrid. The Columbian came for big money from AS Monaco in the summer of 2014. Los Blancos’ were impressed by his performances in the World Cup when he helped his country reach the Quarter-finals.
The forward had a decent first season playing 29 games and scoring 14 times in the process. But his second season has been one to forget. The 24-year-old has played 26 matches this season but has only scored 7 times.
But even his all round game has not been very good and he has been the subject of a lot of criticism from the public. This has sparked several rumours that James is set to be offloaded by Los Blancos in the summer transfer window.
Several big clubs are now hovering around to attempt to sign him but according to reports Manchester United are the favourites to sign the playmaker. AS have learnt from certain sources that United are willing to do everything it takes to ensure they are first in line to sign the player.
Louis Van Gaal is desperately in need of reinforcements after a disappointing season with the club finishing in 5th, which also means they will miss out on Champions League football next season.
James has expressed his desire to stay at the club and prove himself to the Madrid faithful. But whether the club are willing to keep him is another matter. James has not got a lot of minutes under his belt this season.
In all competitions, this season he has only managed 1,858 minutes on the pitch. That figure is closer to players like Nacho and Lucas Vasquez than to the likes Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale.
When Benzema or Bale were out injured, Zidane preferred to play Jese and Vasquez in the 4-3-3 formation despite have James Rodriguez available during that period of time. He has also attracted interest from other clubs like PSG and Juventus but the only stumbling block might be the price tag Real slap on their star given how much they shelled out to secure his signature in the first place.
United can still end the season on a high if they manage to defeat Crystal Palace this Saturday, which will hand them their first major piece of silverware since Sir Alex Ferguson left the club three seasons ago.
