#4 James Rodriguez
Arguably the best player in the 2014 World Cup, Colombia’s Rodriguez was a name on everyone’s lips and it was no surprise that summer when he was signed by Real Madrid to be their latest Galactico. Initially, the move appeared to work out as he starred in numerous performances for his new club and seemed to be settling in nicely.
It’s been largely since the appointment of French legend Zinedine Zidane in January 2016 that things have gone sour for James. In even the first few months of Zidane’s reign, James only played 393 minutes of a possible 1170, and going forward his playing time seems to have reduced even more and more.
He made just 22 La Liga appearances in 2016/17 and barely featured in the Champions League, appearing just six times.
Granted Real are blessed with an embarrassment of riches in the attacking department. Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Isco and Toni Kroos are hardly easy players to edge out of a starting line-up, but when a youngster like Marco Asensio – who is clearly talented, but hasn’t proven as much as Rodriguez – can get in ahead of the Colombian you know something’s up.
Considering how good he looked at the World Cup and in his early days at Real Madrid, Zidane’s continual misuse of the Colombian is borderline insane. Hopefully he can move this summer to a club who might better appreciate his talents.
