Considered a flop by many, Colombian star James Rodriguez could be on his way to another Madrid team. That’s because Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone has expressed his wishes to bring the Brazil 2014 World Cup revelation to the Wanda Metropolitano in the next season.
Without great performances and controversies with Real Madrid’s coach Zinedine Zidane, the midfielder was loaned for several times, but James could never really stand out whether in Bayern Munich or in Real Madrid under other coaches.
Apparently, the reciprocal is true from James Rodriguez towards Diego Simeone as well. However, it won’t be easy to take the midfielder to the other side of Madrid. That’s because, according to the Colombian newspaper El Universal, the Merengues would only accept an offer of at least 25 million euros, which is seen as high from the Atleti board, as James is in a clear down in his career.
The Colombian had his first European steps back in 2010, as he landed in Portugal to play for FC Porto, at 21 years old. There, James had impressive numbers and won eight titles with the Dragons in three seasons.
Then, he went to France’s AS Monaco, and there his career had a turning point, as he conquered some achievements in the French side, which made him be called up to the Brazilian World Cup, where he made himself known.
On that occasion, the Colombian National Team was on a down, as their main star, Falcao Garcia, wouldn’t play in the World Cup due to an injury. It was up to James to carry the Colombians to the quarterfinals, as they fell to hosts Brazil in a 2-1 defeat.
James not only was the top scorer of that World Cup, but also was elected as the Revelation player, and also had the most beautiful goal against Uruguay in the Round of 16.
After his immense World Cup, he went to Real Madrid and took the number 10 on his first season. He did well, but he wasn’t what everyone was expecting from him. I mean, he did better than Eden Hazard has been doing with the Madrid jersey, but he little by little lost space in the main squad, and was loaned several times.
It would be good for him to try to restart his career at Atletico Madrid. He would have to reinvent himself, as Atleti is clearly a defensive team, but I’m sure Simeone would take care of him, and most importantly, would recover James’ self-confidence.