Real Madrid may have to settle for 25 million for James Rodriguez

Real Madrid won’t be able to sell James Rodriguez for a significant fee this summer.

James Rodriguez did everything he could to impress Zinedine Zidane and become a regular part of the Real Madrid squad in 2019-2020, but it was just not meant to be. He started the season brightly, but knee injuries caught up to him. And by the time he came back, Isco was in great form and was thus never going to yield his spot for James.

Since La Liga’s return, the Colombian has played just once – a surprise start in a 2-1 win over Real Sociedad. On Sunday, James won’t even be in the squad traveling to San Mames to take on Europa League hopefuls Athletic Bilbao.

The attacking midfielder is almost certainly on the way out, and transfer rumors have been swirling about him since the start of the season. With only one year left on his contract, James needs to be sold this summer, otherwise Real Madrid risk losing the player for free.

According to a report from MARCA’s Carlos Gonzalez, Los Blancos will have to settle for around 25 million euros for James, which is almost half of what they could have expected for him. But that’s the way the market is right now due to COVID-19. If Achraf Hakimi’s rate is 40 million euros to Inter, then James cannot possibly cost as much in a deal with a club of similar size.

And those are the clubs interested in James. They are Champions League or Europa League quality clubs, but what’s going for Real is that many of them are in the Premier League, such as Everton and Arsenal, and thus have rich pockets. Atletico Madrid are also an option for James.

So while 25 million euros may not seem like much, it’s a helpful fee for Real Madrid that would increase their spending budget to 65 million euros, given the rule that they must spend to buy this summer. Eduardo Camavinga is not for sale, but that amount of money could be enough to sign another talented young player.