The Spanish media have been trying to engineer a move away from Real Madrid for James Rodríguez since January, but it finally looks like James himself might help things along. According to AS journalist Manu Sainz, James is looking to quit Real Madrid in the 48 hours before the team departs for their pre-season training camp in Los Angeles on Tuesday.
Llega Ceballos y James busca cerrar su salida en 48 horas https://t.co/lV69cdxEpX pic.twitter.com/qDMLZTtAcE
— AS Colombia (@AS_Colombia) July 8, 2017
That doesn’t necessarily lend any more credibility to the rumor itself, but it does give us a specific test for its validity that we can easily administer. If James is on the plane, we’ll know that it was nothing more than more idle speculation or wishful thinking. But if he isn’t...
Not many teams could afford James Rodríguez, especially if Real continue to insist on their current €70m asking price. The usual trio of Chelsea, Manchester United, and PSG are all mentioned, though there’s been no real suggestions so far that Chelsea are at all actually interested — nor that any of the three are any closer to actually submitting a bid, thus forcing agent Jorge Mendes into action.
There was one silly rumor earlier today that linked both Morata and James to Chelsea, but that was from Diario Gol and can be safely ignored. That said, Morata did claim earlier this summer that he will be playing next season alongside James, though that was still at the time when Morata himself looked to be going to Manchester United.
Anyway, expect this to result in a fresh round of James-to-Chelsea rumors. But for now, that’s all they should amount to and nothing more.