James Rodriguez on Real Madrid: The first season was excellent. I scored 40 goals and 42 assists, I was great

James Rodriguez wowed the world at the World Cup in Brazil. He became the top scorer of the whole championship, his goal against Uruguay eventually won the Puskás Award and he moved to the famous Real Madrid. However, that dream soon came to an end.

James as a marketing ploy?

During the 2013/14 season, Real Madrid won La Décima and Ángel di María shone as an offensive midfielder. In the end, however, it was through the World Cup that James came for €80 million and the Argentine had to pack his bags and move to Manchester United.

“After the World Cup, PSG or Manchester City were interested in me. But Florentino Pérez called me to see if I would be interested in Real Madrid. When I told him about other clubs’ interest, he asked me if I wanted glory or money. I answered glory and the transfer took place,” says James years later.

The question remains, however, whether the then manager Carlo Ancelotti was seriously interested in the Colombian. Ángel di María was putting in incredible performances at number ten and at one time was considered the player with the best form in the world, despite the fact that Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi were at their peak at the time.

Ancelotti’s footballing father

James immediately slotted into Real Madrid’s starting eleven, along with the arrival of Toni Kroos from Bayern Munich. Expectations were high as at the time he was the 3rd most expensive player in the history of the White Ballet. Thanks to Ancelotti and his great use of the offensive midfielder, James scored 17 goals and 18 assists in 46 games during his first season.

Unfortunately for James, Real Madrid didn’t win a single major trophy that season, so Ancelotti had to pack up from the Santiago Bernabéu. His successor was Rafael Benítez, not a very popular coach in the cabin. The Spaniard relied on other players and James often sat on the bench. The Colombian played only half the minutes he had the previous season. Despite all that, he scored 8 goals and added 10 assists.

Moreover, we must not forget the fact that during the season Benítez was sacked and replaced by the legendary Zinedine Zidane. The Frenchman also did not rely too much on James, but unlike the Spanish strategist, the game of Los Blancos picked up and at the end of the season the team celebrated victory in the Champions League.

Buried by Zidane or by the evolution of football?

During the next season, James came on mostly from the bench or when Zidane wanted to spare the most important players. His natural position was always a straight ten, but under Zidane he came on from the wing as the midfield belonged to the Kroos-Casemiro-Modric trio. Above all, the inclusion of the Brazilian midfielder brought success, as the imbalance and excessive offense did not always bring success.

Thus, James scored 11 goals and set up 12 more in the 2016/17 season, playing almost the same amount of minutes as he did a season earlier. This season, Real Madrid had a wide enough squad and Zidane could rotate the entire eleven without losing too many points. However, the Colombian didn’t have enough for the starting lineup.

Zidane stopped building a true number ten, as many coaches did, who started to rely on a three-man midfield with one defensive player, one so-called box-to-box and another who created the play.

Playing at Real Madrid

From the summer of 2017 to the summer of 2019, James was on loan at Bayern Munich, where he was brought by Carlo Ancelotti. Together, they then met again at Everton in England. After returning from his loan spell, the Colombian spent one more season in Madrid, in which, however, he made only rare appearances, and therefore decided to leave the White Ballet in 2020.

“I think all my seasons at Real have been great. Especially the very first one was excellent. I scored 40 goals and 42 assists at Real, I was great,” James said of his time in the Spanish capital. The player is currently based in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Source: Real Madrid, La Liga