Real Madrid midfielder James Rodriguez has until Thursday to finalise a deal with Everton, or he will be expected to return to Madrid training beyond that.
That’s what Sky Italia report today, adding to reports that the Colombian was on the verge of completing his move to Goodison Park.
Earlier today Mundo Deportivo reported that James’ move was ‘about to crystalise’ and could be made official ‘in the next few hours’ after Everton agreed on a €25m deal with Real Madrid for him.
This backed up reports in England that had stated the move, which has progressed rapidly over the last week, could be wrapped up as early as Wednesday.
Now Sky Sport Italia say that the midfielder has until Thursday to get a deal with Everton over the line, with Madrid having given him permission to skip training up until that point.
If he fails to do so before then, he will have to return to the Spanish giants to work under Zidane for pre-season.
That is something that all parties presumably want to avoid, particularly Everton, who would have to wait for the player to undergo quarantine should he return to Spain. That is not currently an issue as he has been in Portugal.
Everton, for their part, have a three-year contract ‘ready for him’ and will now presumably be racing to get this deal done before the Thursday deadline imposed by Madrid.
