James Rodriguez wants out of Real Madrid with Everton and Wolverhampton Wanderers circling for his signature, according to Defensa Central.
The Colombian has grown frustrated in the Spanish capital at his limited run in the side under Zinedine Zidane, who has only called on the Colombian to start four La Liga fixtures during what has been a heavily disrupted season for the 28-year-old.
A medial collateral ligament injury sustained in November kept James out of action until after the turn of year, though Zidane has yet awarded the 2014 World Cup leading goalscorer any league outings since as he again fell to the sideline in February, this time with a hip issue.
James has now had enough of spending his time on the Los Blancos bench when not in the physio’s room, and has instructed his agent Jorge Mendes to begin forcing a move out of Real ahead of the summer window.
The two-time Champions League winner does not care where he moves to at the close of the campaign, even if the side who court his signature will not be competing in UEFA’s premier club competition in 2020/21, as he is simply keen to begin playing regularly again.
Would you sign James in the summer?
Yes
No
Defensa Central’s claims of James’ unrest will come as a huge boost to our Director of Football Marcel Brands, as the Spanish site also add that neither we nor Wolves are willing to meet Madrid’s €50million (£43.7m) asking price and would rather strike a discount deal.
Both Premier League clubs only consider James to be worth between €15m (£13.1m) and €20m (£17.4m), as a fee in that region would allow either to take on the midfielder’s extremely lucrative contract.
It remains to be seen if any room for negotiating will be possible given the €30m (£26.2m) difference in valuation, though Real are believed to be open to a deal as they need to free space in Zidane’s squad for new additions in James’ position.
James has been involved in three goals during his 13 outings in all competitions this term (one scored, two assisted), while recording an average 44.4 touches per La Liga outing, per Sofa Score, with which he fashioned 27.1 accurate passes (82%), made 0.1 successful dribbles and lost possession 9.9 times.
In other Everton news, a club icon has come to the defence of an under-fire ace.