After the 2014 World Cup, many pundits and fans expected Colombian ace, James Rodriguez, to step up to the top tier of elite footballers, but it hasn’t quite panned out that way for him. After a move to Real Madrid, where he couldn’t quite impress boss Zinedine Zidane, he was taken on a two-year loan deal by Bayern Munich, which ended this summer.
And it seems that Rodriguez is still on sale at Madrid as Bayern have not exercised their £37 million option to make it a permanent deal which has resulted in the likes of Manchester United now keen to add the Colombian to their team in the summer. The Red Devils aren’t the only Premier League side that are interested in signing the attacker, with the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool also linked with a move for Rodriguez, while Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus are also keen on signing the player, according to the same report.
Rodriguez moved to Madrid from AS Monaco in 2014 for £63 million after impressing in the 2014 World Cup. With the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Isco and Lucas Vazquez as options for the Real Madrid management, the Colombian had to settle for a place on the bench which led to a move to Bayern Munich.
In the two years at Bayern Munich, he scored 15 goals and assisted 20 times, while also winning the Bundesliga twice.
Will he be a good signing for Manchester United?
Rodriguez has the talent and technical ability to be a solid addition to Manchester United and even be the one that manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer builds his team around. Apart from being a good link player, Rodriguez can assist and score goals, from a central attacking midfield position or from the wide areas.
He has the guile, technique and vision to pick out passes in the final third, while also possessing the pace to go past defenders.
The left-footed player has played off the left while his best position is the role behind the strikers. It remains to be seen if Solskjaer will change his formation as he has mostly played a 4-3-3 set-up with no attacking midfielder. If he does move to a different set-up where an attacking midfielder is required, Rodriguez could be the perfect player in that position.
He will also bring loads of experience at the top level along with him and will be looking for another opportunity to fully justify the hype with which he had understandably entered the scene.
