According to prominent Spanish media publication, AS, Real Madrid will delay the sale of Colombian midfielder James Rodriguez. This comes in response to the 25-year-old's statements made last week where he confirmed he had offers and only seven days to decide his future.
The FIFA World Cup Golden Boot Winner has fallen behind a number players in the Real Madrid squad this season for a spot in the first team. Marco Asensio, Isco, Lucas Vasquez and Mateo Kovacic are all chosen ahead of the Colombian. This has forced his hand in asking Real Madrid to let him go multiple times – only this season.
But it isn't going to be so straightforward for the La Liga giants. With the club still under a transfer embargo thanks to the Court of Arbitration for Sport's (CAS) decision earlier this year, they're going to see what the outcome of their appeal is before letting the €75 million man walk out the door.
Real Madrid were fined and placed under the embargo because of their involvement in signing under-age kids for their youth academies in Spain. They were slammed with a ban of two transfer windows which kicks in next months allowing them to only sign players in the winter of 2018. They have appealed the decision.
They're able to sell players and agree to deals with new players but can't get those new players to register with the Spanish domestic league and FIFA making them ineligible to represent the club in any professional game except friendlies.
And if they were to lose James Rodriguez, they wouldn't be able to adequately replace him for a year which could hurt them on the field.
A host of Premier League clubs and other European clubs are all interested in pricing James Rodriguez away from the Santiago Bernabeu and should the Los Blancos admit defeat in holding him back, they will demand nothing less than €60 million.
The former AS Monaco and Porto man himself confirmed he had offers on the table last week but wished he could stay at the club ‘forever’.
“I’m happy here, but I want to play more,” he said. “I want to stay at Madrid forever, but you have to think about everything and look at your options. I have offers and I've got seven days to think about it."
Premier League giants in Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City are all interested in acquiring James Rodriguez’s services come the start of the winter transfer window as the ball drops. Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and a host of Bundesliga clubs are also said to be closely monitoring his situation.
