James Rodríguez did not get what he wanted. He could not. He did everything that was in his hands, to the point of offering himself publicly, but it’s been a while since the decisions passed only by him.
He said that he wanted to go to Valencia, that he would lower his salary considerably to facilitate it, that he would “walk” if necessary. But at the club they didn’t even think about it. At least not under his current conditions. With which, the famous interview that he gave to his friend Edu Aguirre in El Chiringuito did not give the expected result… or did it?
Maybe the point of that appearance on Twitch was not to open a door but to close it. What does that mean? Perhaps what James needed was to tighten the rope so much with Qatar’s Al-Rayyan, putting his finger on the poor level of the Qatari championship and thereby generating more annoyance than the very fact of seeing an employee offering himself to the highest bidder. , that the only option left was to terminate the contract in the friendliest way possible to avoid further conflicts. Closing the door of Al-Rayyan was, from the beginning, the first step to get out of there.
So now that the market has been closed in England, Spain, Italy, France and Germany, the big five, without a single concrete proposal, there is only one way left: someone pay the 4 million dollars that the Qataris would demand to let it out. as a free agent, which would give him at least two more weeks to reach one of those leagues outside the deadlines, set for negotiations between clubs, or point to another tournament also in the Old Continent, where the windows are still open.
But the first thing is to find who will pay for him with his background, his high cost, his physical problems. Perhaps there is only one bettor who keeps the faith against all evidence: himself. It is rumored that one of the alternatives that Jorge Mendes will give Al-Rayyan is that the player himself pay the clause to ensure his freedom. In concrete terms, for James it is not a drama to remove 4 million dollars from one of his accounts. And so everyone wins: he negotiates outside the deadlines and the club recovers some of what was invested, he gets rid of the highest salary and saves himself the bad face that would mean seeing him on the bench, in the second division… where want he can finish to punish his daring. Why not?
Possible destinations still open
Now that the big leagues have not taken the step he expected, for a talented like James there are still alternatives in other tournaments that, although they are not the highest grossing, are still Europe.
First, an old acquaintance: Portugal. There, in Porto, he began his European adventure and his career was consolidated. Already in past markets there was talk of a possible return, although the salary reduction would have to be amazing. Will he? You have until September 22 to think about it.
Then Belgium. That competition closes on September 6 and men like Álvarez Balante, Daniel Muñoz and Carlos Cuesta usually come to the Colombian National Team from there.
A final alternative would be Turkey, where Falcao could not shine and did not come out on the best terms, or Russia, where Wilmar Barrios and Mateo Casierra are consolidated,
But we must be aware that the situation is not easy and that, if the Qataris get tough to negotiate, the left-hander could be forced to stay in the Middle East and examine profitable options, although not precisely competitive ones such as Saudi Arabia, open until 17 September, or United Arab Emirates, available until October 4. Experience has shown that, speaking of the market, nothing can be neglected.