Barcelona to sign Premier League superstar for free, Arsenal set to sign £59 million Real Madrid superstar and more: Transfer Roundup 25 January 2019

Arsenal begin talks to sign James Rodriguez

With Mesut Ozil's importance and popularity diminishing to specks, Arsenal are already on the lookout for an attacking midfielder who can turn their fortunes around. They have earmarked Real Madrid ace James Rodriguez, who is currently on loan at Bayern Munich, as the ideal replacement for the ageing German, according to The Independent.

James Rodriguez was heavily influential for Bayern Munich in the 2017-18 season. But under Niko Kovac, he has struggled to nail down a starting berth and is hence not expected to be signed at the end of the season. Bayern have the option of signing the Colombian on a permanent basis for €42 million. However, he is tipped to return to Real Madrid.

Arsenal have made contacts in the hopes of signing Rodriguez on a loan deal with the option of making it permanent in the future. Napoli are also interested in the 27-year-old who is very likely to be sold at the end of this season. However, Arsenal are favourites to land him as it stands.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Sripad