Colombia looked to him as a savior, but James Rodriguez never fulfilled his potential

During each season, countless promising youngsters rise to wider football notoriety and are predicted to have big futures. Aside from the chosen ones who manage to live up to expectations and turn dreams into reality, there are also many, many not-so-successful footballers. Colombian midfielder James Rodríguez belongs to the latter group.

Colombia, Argentina, Portugal

Little James started out kicking for the meruna at Academia Tolimense de Fútbol, but very soon moved on to the bigger Envigado FC. Via Argentina’s Benfiled, he made his way to the already famous Portuguese Porto at the age of 19.

It was there that he came to the attention of the footballing public as a promising prospect for the future. It was a breathtaking opening season at Dragões. In all competitions, he left for his summer holiday with a stats of 32 games, 6 goals and 20 assists.

Moreover, his first year in the elite competition was also successful in terms of team success, which led to four trophies, including winning the league.

He managed to keep the bar set very high for such a young footballer in his next two seasons in the north-west of Portugal. He ended his three-year stint at Estádio do Dragão with a stats of 108 games played, 32 goals scored and 41 assists. This, of course, did not escape the attention of the directors of the most important football clubs.

The call of millions from Monaco

Although he was keenly interested in Madrid, Barcelona and the Premier League, he eventually chose AS Monaco as his next destination, which at the time saw the arrival of new owner Dmitry Rybolovlev and with him unprecedented financial opportunities for the royal club. This is why Les Rouge et Blanc could afford the arrivals of Radamel Falcao, Joao Moutinho, Fabinho and Eric Abidal, among others.

James’ football star was rising all too quickly in France too, and he left the 2014 World Cup with 10 goals and 14 assists. Add to that the unmissable performances at the championship itself in Brazil, which resulted in the tournament’s top scorer award. Suddenly, the driving force of the Colombian national team became the hottest commodity on the transfer market.

Top scorer of the 2014 World Cup

It was not such a big surprise when the famous Real Madrid did not hesitate to put €75 million on the table in the summer of 2014 to secure the services of the 22-year-old midfielder. Notably, James’ first season in the Spanish capital was a good one, but his health woes manifested themselves in the following two seasons.

Especially after the arrival of Zinedine Zidane on the White Ballet bench, El Nuevo Pibe did not get the minutes he deserved and, above all, needed. On the other hand, the success that the legendary former French midfielder has achieved at the helm of Real is undeniable.

A new chance in Germany

Understandably, the offensive midfielder with the magical left foot was not satisfied with the workload, and his deliverance was a two-year loan spell at Bayern Munich. It was there, after all, that his favourite Carlo Ancelotti served as coach, but unfortunately for the Colombian, they enjoyed their time together in Bavaria only until October, when the Italian was replaced by Jupp Heynckes.

James’ performances in a Bavarian jersey were highly praised by club president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge himself and it was to Carlo Ancelotti that he sent letters of thanks for his help in completing the transfer. 67 games, 15 goals and 20 assists, these are the statistics of Rodríguez’s two-year visit to Germany.

Although it can be said that he didn’t have bad numbers in the Bavarians’ jersey, he was praised by the coach and the club president, it was clear that the Colombian star was fading and that he was rather not up to a key role, also because of his age, in a world big club. After returning to the Santiago Bernabéu, he played a total of 14 games for Real across all competitions and it was only natural to look for a new position again.

Ancelotti for the third time

He finally found it again under the wings of football daddy Ancelotti, this time at struggling Everton in the English Premier League. With six goals and six assists in twenty-three league games, even a stint in Liverpool blue probably wouldn’t have been entirely negative, except that Ancelotti answered the call from Madrid, which had an effect on Rodríguez.

In this case, however, he has already completely disappeared from the sight of the Top 5 European football leagues and headed to the Qatari club Al-Rayyan.

The currently 30-year-old offensive midfielder had the prerequisites to become one of the best footballers on the planet. Unfortunately for him, he fell victim to frequent injuries or the preference of other players for his position, as was the case under coach Zidane.

The whole of Colombia looked up to him as a saviour and successor to Carlos Valderrama. Except for the incredible World Cup played in Brazil, practically nothing happened. Another wasted talent who was not meant to be.

Source: Transfermakrt