The midfielder has left European football having spent nearly a decade with Porto, AS Monaco, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Everton. The Columbian international has joined Qatar’s Al Rayyan after leaving the Premier League club for an undisclosed fee.
James became a global sensation during the 2014 FIFA World Cup, where he scored six goals, driving Columbia into the quarter-finals of the tournament and won the golden boot. Immediately after the World Cup, Real Madrid came with a massive 70 million euros offer.
However, he failed to capture the Santiago Bernabeu’s attention the way he was expected to. He found playing time tough to come by, and moved to Bayern Munich on a two-year loan deal. He won the Bundesliga twice over there, before coming to Los Blancos in 2019/20 and winning the league again.
His move to the Premier League was seen as a game-changer, with the attacking midfielder capturing the English fans’ attention by an instance. However, his impact started to fade as the league entered the latter stages.
He had mentioned that Carlo Ancelotti’s presence as the manager of Everton was the only reason he decided to move to the Merseyside club and after the Italian announced his return to Real Madrid, James started looking at other options.
Rodriguez had previously played under the Spaniard Rafa Benitez, the current coach of Everton, when he had a failed stint at Santiago Bernabeu back in 2015/16. The Columbian playmaker will be playing under the stewardship of Laurent Blanc at Al Rayyan, who was formerly a Manchester United player and had a successful stint as the PSG manager.
The 30-year-old intended to move to Porto during the summer transfer window, but Everton failed to strike a deal with the Portuguese club that left him no option but to look elsewhere. Al Rayyan finished third in the Qatar Super League last season, and James’ addition will only add more firepower to their frontline.
He is expected to make his debut for the club against Al Khor, who will be visiting the club James signed for, on September 27.
