James Rodriguez Reaffirms His Commitment to Real Madrid

You can’t say James Rodriguez hasn’t made the most of his appearances this season with Real Madrid. After swirling rumors reported James was set to be sold in the summer, the Colombian international has reassured fans and critics that he will stay in Madrid for the foreseeable future. Ben Sundock tells you why James staying is great for Real Madrid.

In just his sixth start in league play in 25 games Saturday, James Rodriguez played a phenomenal game registering an assist on a Karim Benzema goal and a goal of his own on a pass from Benzema as Real Madrid won 4-1 on the road without Gareth Bale or Cristiano Ronaldo on the field.

Not only was it clear in watching Saturday’s game that James was one of the best on the field, but, according to Whoscored, James registered his highest match rating of the season in any competition for Madrid with an 8.89 rating.

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James said after his impressive performance, “When I am given opportunities I always try and do well. This is all I think about,” he told reporters. “I want to always be here. It’s clear that in life and football you never know what is going to happen but I want to remain here.”

James has now strung together back to back solid performances in league play, coming off the bench mid-week against Las Palmas to provide Cristiano Ronaldo with the game tying goal in the 89th minute to avoid an upset at home.

And now, with a goal and an assist in the game immediately following, it is growing more and more evident that James needs to be on the field with regularity.

However, the problem is, while James is playing well, Isco is also putting in good performances. And since the two play at the same position, they both can’t stay, as they should both be receiving regular playing minutes at one of Europe’s biggest clubs.

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Marca have taken note of James’ performances and his contributions when on the field and note that, “goals and assists are the bare minimum feature of James Rodriguez’s game and Saturday saw the attacking midfielder do the dirty work for Real Madrid as well as contributing to the scoresheet.”

From what I’ve seen his last few matches out, it’s clear that James should be playing regularly. And even if he doesn’t start, he should always be an option on the bench to come on as a super sub.

Zinedine Zidane needs to realize that James is a world class talent and shouldn’t let such an astounding attacking midfielder slip through his fingers to possibly go to one of Real’s biggest rivals.