Manchester City showed concrete interest in signing James Rodríguez before his move to Real Madrid in 2014.
That’s according to the 33-year-old, and he talked about Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain’s approaches for Los Amigos de Edu and Antena 2 have relayed his comments.
The Colombia international was then at AS Monaco when Manchester City, Real Madrid and PSG all wanted him.
In his final season at Monaco, the attacking midfielder managed 17 goals and 18 assists. He also starred for his national team at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. This convinced both Manchester City and the Paris club to make convincing offers to him.
James Rodríguez has been at Mexican side Club León since the start of the year. He claims a call from Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez was key for him to pick the La Liga club over the Citizens and PSG.
“City and Paris wanted me for a much higher salary, much more,” he said.
“Right at that moment, Florentino also called me and said, ‘Do you want glory, or do you want money?’ I replied, ‘glory,’ and to which he said, ‘It’s already done’.”
The South American managed 37 goals and 42 assists from 125 games for the Spanish giants between 2014 and 2020. He had a successful spell at Real Madrid, winning nine trophies which includes two league titles and the Champions League on two occasions.
