Real Madrid: James Rodriguez asked Zinedine Zidane not to play him

We now have some clarity on why James Rodriguez didn’t make the Real Madrid squad.

Both Eden Hazard and Raphael Varane missed Real Madrid’s tough 1-0 win over Athletic Bilbao at San Mames early on Sunday, as Zinedine Zidane didn’t want to risk either player suffering an injury. But the French manager also held James Rodriguez out of the 23-man squad entirely, rolling with five midfielders in what was a surprising decision.

Real didn’t have any issues with the midfield thanks to colossal second-half performances from Casemiro and Luka Modric, and they did just enough to win a penalty to find the scoresheet. So James wasn’t missed.

But James has struggled for playing time and Zidane himself recently said that he understands why the player is frustrated about not getting any chances.

There’s an interesting twist to the story now, though. Because in the post-game press conference after Real’s win over Bilbao, Zidane informed reporters that it was James Rodriguez who actually told him that he didn’t want to be in the squad.

Zidane said,

"“James was not called because he asked me not to call him.”\"

Wow. So James is definitely on the way out, right? Him not being in the squad in the first place was a sign that things are beyond repair at this point, but James’ recent comments combined with Zidane admitting that the midfielder asked not to play points towards an exit this summer.

Real Madrid will need to sell James in 2020, otherwise he will leave for free in the winter when his contract runs out. The Premier League has several teams that would make sense, and Napoli in Serie A could still be an option. But the most likely landing spot already appears to be a huge rival in Atletico Madrid. If James is truly this upset with his situation at Real, then maybe he could go to the Wanda Metropolitano for some revenge.

Either way, it’s sad to see how things have gone this far with James, who is still loved by many Madridistas and was once an important player at the Santiago Bernabeu.