{"id":15680,"date":"2014-07-24T10:54:26","date_gmt":"2014-07-24T15:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/?p=15680"},"modified":"2016-03-30T11:49:04","modified_gmt":"2016-03-30T16:49:04","slug":"james-rodriguez-to-real-madrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2014\/07\/james-rodriguez-to-real-madrid\/","title":{"rendered":"James Rodriguez to Real Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After <strong>James Rodriguez won the Golden Boot<\/strong> for his outstanding 6 goal haul in this summer&#8217;s Brazil World Cup, I really thought I wouldn&#8217;t be writing another football-related post for a while. Even with all the rumors flying around of his<strong> impending transfer to Real Madrid<\/strong>, I never really believed Monaco would sell their star asset straight after the tournament of his life. I also didn&#8217;t really believe that Real would stump up the likely asking fee of <strong>at least 80 million Euros<\/strong>. Well, I&#8217;ve been proven wrong (there&#8217;s a first time for everything, right!?), and this week <strong>James sealed a stunning switch to arguably the world&#8217;s biggest club<\/strong> (and I&#8217;m a Man Utd fan&#8230;). Yet, is this the right move for the Colombian superstar?<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_15295\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15295\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2014\/06\/james-rodriguez-colombia\/james-rodriguez-bond-meme-facebook-vamos-colombia-flag\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15295\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15295\" src=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/James-Rodriguez-Bond-Meme-Facebook-Vamos-Colombia-Flag.jpg\" alt=\"James Rodriguez Bond Meme\" width=\"800\" height=\"568\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/James-Rodriguez-Bond-Meme-Facebook-Vamos-Colombia-Flag.jpg 800w, https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/James-Rodriguez-Bond-Meme-Facebook-Vamos-Colombia-Flag-300x213.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15295\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">James Rodriguez Bond<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>James made no secret of his desire to leave France for Spain, even declaring that <strong>he would sign for Real in his sleep<\/strong>. He followed\u00a0<em>Los Merengues\u00a0<\/em>as a boy, and even made a trip over to watch them in the Champions League last season, where he was pictured with Cristiano Ronaldo, a man whose status as <strong>the world&#8217;s best footballer many believe that James could challenge<\/strong> in a few years time. Some are questioning the wisdom of the move, given that James prefers to occupy a more traditional No. 10 role on the pitch, and Carlo Ancelotti has preferred a 4-3-3 formation over the past season with a striker playing through the middle, and Bale and Ronaldo on the flanks. <strong>James is an incredible young footballer<\/strong>, but he&#8217;s unlikely to oust the two most expensive players in history from their positions. Real have also paid 30 million euros for German World Cup hero Toni Kroos, and with Luka Modric and Xabi Alonso playing in the middle, the Madrid midfield is looking a little congested. But <strong>this is the competition James needs<\/strong>: not being a guaranteed started will force him to push himself and develop his game.<\/p>\n<p>The amount of money Real have invested in the 23 year old Colombian clearly demonstrates <strong>their faith in his ability to adapt and let his natural talent shine<\/strong> through at the Bernabeu. I believe them as well; James is a star and his rightful place is on the biggest stage.<strong> It bodes well for Colombia&#8217;s national team<\/strong> as well: in a tougher league, James will be targeted and marked more and will be forced to improve his game to deal with these changes. So when the next Brazil try to kick him out of the game <strong>he will have developed the tools to deal more effectively with this attention.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_15518\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15518\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2014\/07\/bogota-beyond-the-septima-challenge\/james-rodriguez-colombia-2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15518\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15518\" src=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/James-Rodriguez-Colombia.jpg\" alt=\"James Rodriguez Colombia\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/James-Rodriguez-Colombia.jpg 800w, https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/James-Rodriguez-Colombia-300x168.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15518\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Met him before he got famous&#8230;<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The <strong>reaction in Colombia to the transfer has been overwhelming<\/strong>: people everywhere stopped what they were doing to watch James being unveiled as a Real player on Tuesday, and his face has <strong>dominated Colombian newspapers, TV shows and websites<\/strong> for the past few days. He was already a superstar in Colombia, but this move puts the world&#8217;s eyes on him, and, by extension, Colombia. <strong>The nation couldn&#8217;t ask for a more respectable, talented figurehead.<\/strong> Two Colombians (Fredy Rincon and Edwin Congo) have represented\u00a0<em>Los Blancos\u00a0<\/em>in the past, but their careers in the Spanish capital were over quickly. <strong>James is a different story<\/strong>: he will be expected to return his massive transfer fee. He will play games, and score and assist goals.<strong> Fans will wear his name on their backs.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_15683\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15683\" style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2014\/07\/james-rodriguez-to-real-madrid\/james-rodriguez-kissing-real-madrid-badge-in-his-presentation-day\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15683\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-15683\" src=\"http:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/james-rodriguez-kissing-real-madrid-badge-in-his-presentation-day.jpg\" alt=\"James Rodriguez Real Madrid\" width=\"800\" height=\"661\" srcset=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/james-rodriguez-kissing-real-madrid-badge-in-his-presentation-day.jpg 800w, https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/james-rodriguez-kissing-real-madrid-badge-in-his-presentation-day-300x247.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15683\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">James Rodriguez: Real Madrid&#8217;s new star<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>With <strong>David Ospina moving to Arsenal<\/strong>, James to Real, and strong rumors circulating of <strong>Juan Cuadrado&#8217;s imminent move to Barcelona<\/strong>, the World Cup has done nothing but good for Colombia global standing. They are <strong>now No. 4 in FIFA&#8217;s world ranking<\/strong>, and the number of\u00a0<em>la seleccion&#8217;s\u00a0<\/em>players now plying their trade for giants of the game will only improve Colombia&#8217;s national football team. <strong>Bring on the Copa America in Chile next summer, and Russia 2018! Vamos Colombia!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Chris<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; After James Rodriguez won the Golden Boot for his outstanding 6 goal haul in this summer&#8217;s Brazil World Cup, I really thought I wouldn&#8217;t be writing another football-related post for a while. Even with all the rumors flying around of his impending transfer to Real Madrid, I never really believed Monaco would sell their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":15685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[4,2314,1],"tags":[213,2885,345],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v18.4 (Yoast SEO v18.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>James Rodriguez to Real Madrid - Colombia Travel Blog by See Colombia Travel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/seecolombia.travel\/blog\/2014\/07\/james-rodriguez-to-real-madrid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"James Rodriguez to Real Madrid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; After James Rodriguez won the Golden Boot for his outstanding 6 goal haul in this summer&#8217;s Brazil World Cup, I really thought I wouldn&#8217;t be writing another football-related post for a while. 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