5 players who struggled after leaving Real Madrid

2. James Rodriguez

James Rodriguez was signed by Real Madrid in 2014, following his impressive solo display for Colombia in the World Cup. Rodriguez was tipped to become a world-class player at Real Madrid and despite some impressive performances, he didn't reach this level.

James did hold his own, though. It must be said, James always put in the highest level of effort when he represented Real Madrid and overall, he was a good signing for Los Blancos (if you ignore the hyped up World Cup attention).

Eventually, he went out on loan to Bayern Munich for a long period of time before being signed by Everton. He failed to make a name for himself in the Premier League, or the Bundesliga. Therefore, he makes this list as an example of a player who struggled after leaving Real Madrid. Should he have stayed? In truth, he should've probably stayed with Monaco a bit longer before making the jump.

Continued on the next slide...