Real Madrid are poised to unveil James Rodriguez today after agreeing a €81 million (Dh402m) fee with Monaco to sign the Colombian star on a six-year contract.
Although the transfer has not yet been officially confirmed, Los Blancos informally allowed the news to be broken yesterday to encourage the largest possible number of fans to be ready to attend Rodriguez’s unveiling at the Bernabeu this afternoon.
The club confirmed that the usual route for the stadium tour has been changed for the day due to “a special event”, and president Florentino Perez has delayed his departure for the club’s pre-season tour to the United States in order to appear alongside his new Galactico at today’s anticipated presentation.
Rodriguez, who top scored at the World Cup with six goals in Colombia’s march to the quarter-finals, will become the second high-profile midfield arrival at the Bernabeu in the last week following the capture of Germany international Toni Kroos from Bayern Munich.
The 23-year-old will also be the third most expensive signing in his new club’s history, behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, and he will take the number 10 shirt which was left vacant by last year’s departure of Mesut Ozil.
In stark contrast to last summer’s drawn-out signing of Bale, which was only completed early in September, the capture of Rodriguez has been completed in a remarkably swift timeframe.
Once Madrid expressed their willingness to meet Monaco’s asking price, the only major point of negotiation was whether a player would be included in the deal.
Monaco were keen on taking Angel Di Maria or goalkeeper Diego Lopez in part-exchange, but it’s now unlikely either of those moves will be included with Madrid prepared to make a straight cash payment to secure the services of a player who has never hidden his desire to move to the Bernabeu.
However, it is more than probable that Di Maria will leave Madrid with Rodriguez set to inherit the central attacking midfield role occupied by the Argentine.
With Ronaldo and Bale firmly in control of the wide positions, Di Maria’s chances of forcing his way into Carlo Ancelotti’s starting line-up look slim, and the Bernabeu hierarchy are also thought to be less than impressed by Di Maria’s demands for a hefty wage increase.
