What’s the story
According to English outlet Mirror, James Rodriguez wants to leave Real Madrid and has been in contact with Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho talking about a possible move to Old Trafford. The Colombian star is not on cordial terms with the current Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane and wants to make the switch.
Chelsea and PSG are also keen on getting the player but the report claims that Rodriguez would much rather join United.
In case you didn’t know...
After putting up a superb show in the 2014 World Cup for Colombia, James Rodriguez joined Real Madrid for a mammoth fee of around €80 million. The Colombian had spoken several times about his dream of joining Los Blancos so it was not a big surprise when he made the move from Monaco to the Spanish capital.
After the appointment of Zidane as the new manager, however, James has been relegated to the bench. He has also been hampered by injury trouble which has further misery to his situation.
One thing that is of interest is the fact that both Jose Mourinho and James Rodriguez are represented by superstar agent Jorge Mendes. It is a known fact that Mourinho and Mendes share a great relationship and the Portuguese duo will definitely be talking over this if the reports are true.
The heart of the matter
The Colombian has had a fallout with Zidane and believes that the situation is now beyond the point of any return. The player would love to make the move to Manchester United and according to the reports his agent is already in talks with Manchester United executive Vice Chairman Ed Woodward who often handles transfer related projects for the Red Devils.
What next?
"Now a new year has begun for me and I'm staying at Madrid," he said. "Everyone in the team wants to play all the time, and we all go through bad moments. I just want to play well when I have the chance and be able to do good things like I did today and help the team by scoring goals."
This new report is definitely interesting since it is completely opposite of what the Colombian stated.
Sportskeeda’s take
The rumours regarding James are definitely not new. Back in December last year, Zidane had admitted that James’ situation at Real Madrid was indeed a ‘problem’ but added that he wanted to him stay since he admired him as a footballer.
A quality player like James Rodriguez will definitely attract big clubs in the transfer market and with Chelsea and PSG also in the race to sign the player, he will definitely have quite a few options if he indeed decides to leave Madrid.
