World Cup Golden Boot winner James Rodríguez showed the world what he was capable of to those who weren’t already aware of his unique talent and extraordinary potential at 23 years of age at this summer’s tournament. He registered six goals in five games and two assists; also participating in Colombia’s other three World Cup goals. As expected, young James has attracted interest from clubs at the pinnacle of world football, Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.
On July 3rd after Colombia’s World Cup exit, AS Monaco vice president Vadim Vasilyev insisted that the club would not sell Colombia pair James Rodríguez and Radamel Falcao amongst speculation that both Real Madrid and Barcelona were preparing bids for the players. Vasilyev feels that Rodríguez’ displays in Brazil have justified the €40m fee that the Principlaity outfit paid FC Porto to sign him last summer, which at the time raised a few eyebrows. “Everybody was surprised at the large sum we spent last year and now everybody is talking about him. That’s means that we were right.” He added. “We strongly believe in this player, he is very important to us, he still had four years remaining on his contract and we will do many great things together”.
Transfer speculation in general has significantly escalated as the tournament has come to an end and clubs have begun their summer business and preparation for the new season with training camps and friendlies. After FC Barcelona completed the £75m signing of Liverpool forward Luis Suarez it seemed that the Catalans would not pursue an interest in Rodríguez. However Los Blancos made their interest concrete, contacting his agent. Rodríguez began to indicate that he wanted a move to Madrid by telling journalists “I would go to Real Madrid with my eyes shut. I respect other clubs, but Madrid is Madrid.” “To play with Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale would be a dream”. He continued to fuel rumours by saying later that week “I have said in the past that it is my ambition to play in Spain one day, because it is a league that is good technically and where you get lots of touches on the ball, which is my style”.
The Colombian reportedly told his current club AS Monaco that he would not join them on their pre-season tour in the USA and attend their training camp in Miami, Florida, to try and force his dream move to the Santiago Bernabeu. French newspaper L’Equipe reported on Saturday that Monaco had no option but to allow the move to happen because Rodríguez had told them that he wanted to move away, so that they were forced to accept the €90m (£63) offer that Real Madrid had placed on the table. James has agreed a five-year deal with the European champions and landed at Barajas Airport on Sunday evening in Madrid (pictured below) to complete his medical and contract signing, to complete his dream move. The signing of Rodriguez would indicate the departure of want away Argentine winger Angel Di Maria who could head the over way (thought, now not part of the deal) to AS Monaco, or potentially to Manchester United or PSG who have expressed their interest, the latter in potential talks with the play. Real Madrid’s new home jersey for the 2014/15 season bearing ‘James 10’ have already gone on sale in the Spanish capital (below), something we saw happen with Luis Suarez prior to an official transfer announcement from the club. The deal is expected to be completed in the next 24 hours.
