The former Real Madrid star is heading to Brazil. James Rodríguez signs as a free agent with São Paulo

James Rodríguez is on his way to Brazil to move back to South America to play for São Paulo after many years in Europe. How did his career actually progress after leaving Real Madrid?

The thirty-two-year-old footballer has seen his promising-looking career take a huge fall in recent years. He was brought to European football by Portuguese side Porto in 2010.

However, he made most of his presence known during his time at Monaco and especially at the 2014 World Cup. With six goals scored, James became the tournament’s top scorer despite Colombia falling out to hosts Brazil in the quarter-finals.

He added two assists to his six shots and also won the award for the best goal scored in the entire tournament. In the eighth-final match against Uruguay, he worked the ball to his chest and fired an uncatchable shot from outside the penalty area. A beautiful goal.

No wonder Real Madrid were not reluctant to pay 75 million euros for him, and initially the investment seemed very successful. He had a great first year individually. In total, James scored 17 goals and 18 assists.

The next two seasons were not quite the same. Due to injuries, he gradually disappeared from the starting line-up and later went on a two-year loan to Bayern Munich. The German club had the option to buy the player for a sum of 42 million euros. However, the clause was not used and James returned to Madrid.

Upon his return, it was clear that he had no future at the club. He played only eight league games in the white jersey last season and signed for Everton as a free agent. Here he met Carlo Ancelotti for the third time at a different club.

After just one year in England and twelve years in Europe, he made his way to Qatar. He spent less than a year at Al-Rayyan before agreeing to terminate his contract with the club.

His final destination was Olympiakos in Greece, where he was reunited with his former Real Madrid teammate Marcel after many years. In April this year, both players left the club by mutual agreement.

It seems his time in Europe is definitely over. At the end of a career that certainly had the potential to be far more successful, he is heading to Brazil as a free agent to sign for São Paulo.

Source: Transfermarkt, Twitter – Fabrizio Romano