It looks increasingly likely that Everton are actually signing James Rodriguez from Real Madrid. Despite the player’s struggles in recent years it’s still an exciting move, if something of a gamble.
Monday’s edition of Marca says the player is ‘one step away’ from a move to Goodison Park, and there’s similar sentiment elsewhere in Spain.
AS, another Madrid based sports newspaper, says the move is ‘very advanced’ and that all parties involved in the potential transfer have confidence everything can be sorted out within the coming days.
Real Madrid won’t demand too high a price, according to AS, because the player’s contract expires next summer and they don’t want to continue paying his wages, given Zinedine Zidane doesn’t count on James.
On top of that, the Colombian is determined to leave, and made that clear to the club at the end of last season, which saw him being completely frozen out.
In recent days James has been holidaying in Portugal, and it would be expected that on his return things speed up with Everton.
Real Madrid will then have one of their non-playing big earners off the books. The sale of the other, Gareth Bale, looks rather more complicated.
