Rodriguez deal has become Real after arriving in Madrid

Simon Foster 06:50 21/07/2014
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  • Matter of time: James Rodriguez’s spell as a Monaco player seems set to end.

    James Rodriguez was yesterday pictured arriving at Madrid airport amid growing belief he is ready to seal a €81 million (Dh402.4m) move to the European champions.

    The Colombian World Cup star was seen boarding a plane from Medellin, Colombia, to the Span­ish capital on Saturday and was photographed at Adolfo Suarez Madrid–Barajas Airport by Spanish journalist Juan Gato.

    Rodriguez’s arrival in Madrid came on the same day reports in France had claimed the 23-year-old had issued a transfer ultimatum to Monaco that unless they sell him to Real he will refuse to play for the Principality club.

    Rodriguez also allegedly refused to play in Monaco’s pre-season friendly against Junior Barranquillo yesterday, for fear of an injury ruining his dream move to Los Blancos.

    As top scorer at the World Cup with six goals, interest in Rod­riguez was inevitable but with Monaco only buying him from Porto 12 months ago for €45m (Dh223.6m), it was going to take a considerable bid to prise him away.

    Agent Jorge Mendes – who has close linked with Real having bro­kered the transfers of Cristiano Ronaldo, Fabio Coentrao, Angel Di Maria, Pepe and former man­ager Jose Mourinho to the club – claimed a week ago that Rodriguez “only wants to wear white.”

    While after Colombia’s World Cup elimination at the quarter-final stages Rodriguez’s father admitted his son had always wanted to play for Los Blancos.

    Wilson James Rodriguez said: “Since he was very little he was say­ing he wanted to play profession­ally in Spain because it is similar to Colombian football, with great technique.

    “They have players such as Ronaldo. For the style of football, he prefers Real Madrid.

    “He aspires to achieve great things.[Zinedine] Zidane was his idol when he was playing for Real.”

    Shirts bearing ‘Rodriguez 10’ were seen on sale in Madrid yester­day, a number the club left vacant last season following Mesut Ozil’s transfer to Arsenal.

    Rodriguez’s potential sign­ing would leave Madrid with an outstanding attacking midfield line-up of the Colombian interna­tional alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, the trio costing a collective €271m (Dh1.3 billion).

    Madrid have already spent €30m (Dh149m) this summer on Toni Kroos from Bayern Munich. Striker Alvaro Morata has been sold to Juventus to €20m (Dh99.4m) and midfielder Casemiro allowed to join Porto on loan.

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