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What's the story?
According to the English outlet, The Independent, Real Madrid are planning on a shocking swap deal for Tottenham Hotspur's playmaker, Christian Eriksen. The Los Blancos are willing to include James Rodriguez, who is currently struggling for playing time in Bayern Munich, to potentially smooth the signing of Eriksen, whose current market value is around €100 million.
In case you didn't know..
James Rodriguez has completed 18 months of his two-year-long loan spell with the Bundesliga giants. However, the Colombian has been out of favour since Croatian tactician, Niko Kovac, took charge at the Allianz Arena.
In the past week, the Colombian was linked with Unai Emery's Arsenal, to spend the rest of his loan spell in the Premier League. However, the 27-year-old has reportedly turned down the move and is willing to spend the remainder of the season with Bayern Munich.
With Niko Kovac in charge of the German giants, it is highly unlikely that Bayern would activate the option to buy the Columbian in their loan-deal. Hence, the Colombian might be used to ease the Eriksen transfer.
The heart of the matter
With their struggling season to learn from, the Los Blancos are planning to spend big in the next summer. While being linked with some of the hottest prospects in European football, Chelsea's Eden Hazard and Spurs midfielder Christian Eriksen is amongst their top-targets.
With the urgency to sign top-notch players from Europe, Real Madrid need to keep a check on their wallet as well. James Rodriguez, who is one of the best and most lethal playmakers in the world, would be the most suitable for Eriksen whose current contract expires in 2020.
The Dane hasn't signed any new contracts with the London club and would be pushing for a move out of Wembley, next summer. Instead of letting him leave for free next year, Spurs would like to make some money from the deal and include the Columbian, who'd be an ideal long-term replacement for the Dane.
Rumour rating: 7/10
Real Madrid are desperate to sign a new bunch of what they call Galacticos, following a dreadful first half of the current season. It is certain that the Los Blancos would be splashing big sums in the approaching summer, while it remains to see which players are they going to lure to the Bernabeu.
What's next?
Santiago Solari's men currently occupy the third spot of the La Liga table, ten-points adrift of the leaders, FC Barcelona.
With an exceptional display against Sevilla on the weekend, the three-time defending champions of the UEFA Champions League would like to carry their form to the latter and the crucial part of the season.
