Man Utd hold talks over deal to sign £22.4m South American, player desperate to join

Manchester United have held initial talks over a deal to sign James Rodriguez and the Real Madrid attacker is desperate to seal a move to Old Trafford, according to reports in Spain via TeamTalk.

Rodriguez has struggled to live up to his reputation since joining Madrid from Monaco in a big-money deal six years ago and he was shipped out on a two-year loan to Bayern Munich between 2017 and 2019.

The South American was sent back to the Bernandeu after Bayern rejected the chance to sign him on a permanent basis and Rodriguez has failed to force his way back into Zinedine Zidane’s first team plans this season.

The 29-year-old has made just 1 La Liga appearance in the last nine months and Zidane told reporters that the attacking midfielder refused to make himself available for selection for Madrid’s trip to Athletic Bilbao last weekend.

That was the final straw for the Madrid hierarchy and Rodriguez is now certain to leave the club this summer with a move to the Premier League a real possibility as he’s attracted interest from a number of clubs.

According to a report in the Mirror, Arsenal, Man Utd, Wolves and Everton have all expressed a desire to sign Rodriguez this summer but it looks like the player has his heart set on a move to Old Trafford.

TeamTalk are citing Spanish outlet SPORT who report in their newspaper that Rodriguez is desperate to join Manchester United after they opened initial talks over a potential deal this summer.

The report says Madrid are ready to do-business at a cut-price fee of £22.4m (€25m) in order to get Rodriguez off the books but the player will have to take a cut on his £132k a week wages to make the move happen as United are not willing to match his current salary.

The Colombian international can play anywhere across the attacking midfield positions so he’d give Ole Gunnar Solskjaer a versatile option in the final third if a deal could be agreed this summer.

The main concern for United would be getting him playing to the best of his ability as Rodriguez’s career has stalled this season. However, there is no denying his quality so it could be a shrewd piece of business by Man Utd if they could get him confident and firing on all cylinders again.

We’ll have to wait and see how things develop over the coming weeks but I personally think United will focus their attention on trying to sign Jadon Sancho and will only turn to Rodriguez as a back-up option if they can’t agree terms with Borussia Dortmund.