Real Madrid: The 3 Premier League clubs who want James Rodriguez

Real Madrid attacking midfielder James Rodriguez is well-liked by the fans and still a productive player, but with one year left on his contract, he’s probably leaving this summer.

It will be extremely difficult to project prices – let alone the start date – during the 2020 summer transfer window, but Real Madrid fans seem to have a good idea of who will leave and what the needs are. The primary need is, of course, a new top scorer to take the load off Karim Benzema and replace the goals left on the table by Cristiano Ronaldo.

As for the players making way, Mariano Diaz, Lucas Vazquez, and Gareth Bale are three forwards who could leave to clear squad space for a new striker. And Luka Jovic‘s future has recently been cast into doubt despite a 60 million euro investment in the Serbia international last year.

Madridistas are nervous about the future of Colombian star James Rodriguez, who started the 2019-2020 season brightly but fell out of the picture due to injuries. Plus, Zinedine Zidane‘s preferred attacking midfielder, Isco, returned to form, sealing James’ fate as an overqualified bench player.

James is too good to sit on the bench, but it will be even more difficult for him to get playing time if Martin Odegaard returns from Real Sociedad to give Los Merengues a 2020-2021 boost.

Beyond that, James has only one year left on his contract, so Real Madrid will likely want to get something out of a player who is still drawing significant interest from clubs around Europe.

It seems like the Premier League is the logical destination for James, and MARCA reports on the three clubs in England with the most interest in the 2014 World Cup standout.

Per MARCA, Arsenal, Wolverhampton, and Everton are the most interested clubs in James.

Arsenal have always seemed like the favorites to land the player, as Real Madrid loanee Dani Ceballos probably won’t sign a new loan or sign with the Gunners permanently. Another superstar player couldn’t hurt Arsenal, especially if they lose Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang or Alexander Lacazette this summer.

Wolves seem like a darkhorse, but with Real loosely linked to Raul Jimenez and Ruben Neves over the past several months, perhaps something can happen there.

And Everton are the least surprising, even if Arsenal have been deemed a top landing spot. That’s because Everton’s manager is Carlo Ancelotti, and any time Ancelotti is coaching a team James isn’t on, the two will be linked. James enjoyed his best club football at the highest level under Ancelotti at both Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.

A player’s coach, Ancelotti will know how to use James Rodriguez, and the Toffees could absolutely use a player with James’ ability to create clear-cut chances for forwards.