da cassino： According to reports from Marca, Chelsea and Manchester United are interested in signing Real Madrid attacker James Rodriguez.
What’s the word?
da dobrowin： Having struggled to replicate the 2014 World Cup, Golden Boot-winning form that earned him an illustrious move to the Bernabeu, it appears Real Madrid have finally lost patience with attacking midfielder James Rodriguez, with Marca claiming they’re prepared to sell the Colombian international for €75million during the summer.
Although he’s struggled to produce his best in the Spanish capital, managing only 13 starts in La Liga this season, potential summer suitors are by no means in short supply. Marca believe Chelsea could go again for Rodriguez after he rejected a last-minute move to Stamford Bridge in the last transfer window, but also document interest from Manchester United – citing Jose Mourinho’s infamous ties with his agent, the renowned Jorge Mendes – and mentioning signals from ‘large parts of the media’. They’re likely alluding to a recent report from AS.
Is he worth €75million?
Equating to £64.39million, that would constitute a new record transfer fee for Chelsea and the second-largest fee in Manchester United’s history after their world-record swoop for Paul Pogba last summer. Of course, comparing to prior is a bit of a pointless enterprise these days considering they jump up with every passing summer – even Pogba’s fee could look like pocket change in a few years’ time based on the current rate of inflation in the European game and particularly the Premier League.
Nonetheless, it does seem rather audacious on Real Madrid’s part to demand pretty much the exact same fee they paid Monaco three years ago despite Rodriguez’s spell with them being largely deemed a failure. He’s managed only 76 La Liga outings in that time, albeit producing a decent return of 28 goals, and has missed 36 games across all competitions through injury – another concern for his reported suitors.
That being said, if Rodriguez can replicate his World Cup form in the Premier League, he’ll easily be one of the stars of the division. It’s currently a bit of a gamble, however.
Which club would he suit best?
The Spanish media seem to think Manchester United are the most interested and Jose Mourinho certainly needs to jostle his attacking options this summer following a campaign that has seen his side manage the fewest goals of any team in the top seven, just 52, especially with Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s future unconfirmed and Wayne Rooney likely to move on.
But one of the problems at Real Madrid has been where to actually fit Rodriguez in. He’s struggled to justify taking the No.10 role in such a talented side, even more so since they’ve found much better balance when set up as a 4-3-3 with a holding midfielder in Casemiro, and isn’t a natural wide-forward in the same way as Cristiano Ronaldo or Gareth Bale. Intriguingly, United have also used 4-3-3 for much of the season, a formation Mourinho is largely synonymous with.
On the other hand, the slots behind the striker in Chelsea’s 3-4-3 set-up could suit him perfectly, as the kind of attacking player who seems to drift between the wing and central positions and midfield and forward roles. The wing-backs would create the room to let him tuck inside, while Costa’s movement generates the space to run beyond the Spain international and score goals.
Whereas a move to Man United may once again be a case of a square peg being pushed into different round holes, Chelsea’s more universal, roaming and interpretive attacking midfield slots are likelier to get the best out of him.