The news spread like wildfire: “The player (James Rodríguez) informed the football management that he wants to leave and the club will terminate the Colombian’s contract. The conversation took place this week. James would have suggested an amicable agreement. The player stated that he has few opportunities at the club and that he would like to remain close to his family,” Globo Esporte reported.
Hours before, coach Thiago Carpini had mentioned in an interview that, in effect, the player’s decision not to travel with his team, Sao Paulo, to the Brazilian Super League match had to do with his growing dissatisfaction. And he did not spare any details: “the problem is that he has been struggling with the training session. With each sequence he has, he comes with a chronic problem in the tendon, in the calf. He loses three or four days and, when he reaches his better way, he feels it again. I think this has affected his mental part and has made it difficult for him to return.”
The outcome reported by the Brazilian press could almost be expected, another occasion in which he prefers to negotiate his departure rather than fulfill his contract. Unfortunately, if this news is confirmed it would be the fourth time that he has left a club that bets on him on those same terms and the precedent, when looking for a new club, is not good even for a player with his admirable career.
The list of breaches
Bitter return to Real Madrid
He suffered several injuries at Bayern Munich, he did not flow with coach Niko Kovac but Rummenigge respected him so much that he offered him a long-term contract to stay, against all odds. Later he himself would say on social networks that he did not stay because he could not handle the cold, the climate and the people in Germany and the Spanish press would reveal that he had an offer from Atlético de Madrid to return to the city where he was most happy in Europe. A friendly in the United States cut short that option and, without Bayern’s offer, he had to return to Real Madrid.
And that, which for many was the realization of a dream, was a nightmare: he suffered a string of injuries, he stopped counting completely for Zidane, he reacted badly to the substitution and got fed up to the point of making the merengue team, with which he He still had one year on his contract, I let him go to Everton for free, with Ancelotti.
The version that he arrived as a free player was confirmed by the former sporting director of the Toffees, Marcel Brands, in the annual presentation to the General Meeting of Shareholders on the transfer market, before the start of the 2020/21 season. But in addition, FIFA responded to Envigado and Banfield that in fact not a single peso was paid for the transfer when both wanted to claim some training rights. He left and didn’t look back.
Qatar’s mistake
Rafa Benítez appeared in James’ path, again, at Everton: according to what the left-hander said on Twitch, on the first day of preseason he told him to look for a team and he, diligently, did so. He ended up at Al-Rayyan in Qatar, a club that offered him a juicy contract and the prospect of a 2022 World Cup there.
Nobody could anticipate that Colombia would not qualify, so everything seemed to be closed to him… or almost everything: ““I went to Qatar, it wasn’t for a lot of money, because I wanted to play and I said, I’m going to play there for four or five months.” “I’m playing in the World Cup and then I can leave. In Colombia it’s bad luck that we were left out of the World Cup by one point, everything was wrong for me,” he said himself.
And it got worse because then came physical problems that were never sufficiently explained, weeks and weeks in which he was not even called up and, in the end, the official goodbye: “Al Rayyan terminates by mutual agreement the contract of Colombian professional James Rodríguez after reaching an agreement between both parties,” the club reported in September 2022, although the contract expired in 2024.
“There everyone eats with their hands. They would share with me and I would say: ‘No, thank you’. I would ask about the cutlery and they would say: ‘No, with your hand’, and I would answer: ‘You’re crazy, I’m not going to eat with your hand,'” said the left-handed man. Adaptation problems, he said. In short, a costly mistake.
The Greek Adventure
When James cut ties with Al-RAyyan, he was already well advanced, via his friend Marcelo, with Olympiacos to be the star reinforcement for the 2022/2023 season.
Once again, his arrival in that country was crazy, the people in the stands were filled with excitement, he had a coach like Míchel who spoke not only Spanish but also his language on the field, he returned to playing regularly and did not get injured… until the coach left and he began to be absent due to physical problems and again he felt “unsatisfied.”
“Olympiacos FC and James Rodríguez have decided to end their cooperation. James will always be part of our club and a member of the red and white family. We want to thank him for his service and we wish him much success in the future,” the rojiblanco team indicated in a brief statement. There were two and a half months left until the end of his contract, the local press spoke of a bad relationship with the coach in charge and that he refused to apologize to his teammates for leaving the stadium when they decided to replace him (it was never proven), and finally he stayed without a team and went to Madrid to spend the summer.
Brazil, similar to Colombia, but…
James had played his last game on April 9 and on July 29 he was presented as an official reinforcement for Sao Paulo, one of the largest teams in Brazil, a bond full of expectation and, as revealed by Globoesporte, with a salary of two million dollars plus variables, for each of the two years he signed.
That it looked like Colombia, he said, that it had no problem with the language, that it was close to its people, that everything looked good. In fact, since landing he began to physically work hard to be available and in reality he was, but much less than expected. If he compared that to the great performances he had with the Colombian National Team, where he didn’t seem to hurt at all, the situation was beginning to be somewhat uncomfortable.
But the 2024 season began, after being a substitute with Dorival, he began to not be taken into account by the new coach Thiago Carpini, who argued that he needed to work more on the physical part to avoid relapse into injuries, and suddenly, he lost again patience. According to Globoesporte, he asked the board to terminate the contract amicably and his wish was granted, so he would once again leave early, since he has a year and a half left on his contract. Is the only thing chronic in these years just that soleus problem? The list of unfinished contracts is gaining ground…