James Rodriguez has revealed that both Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City offered him more money than Real Madrid in 2014 but he chose the latter in search of \u201cglory\u201d instead.<\/strong><\/p>\n Rodriguez had made himself an international superstar that year by scoring an outrageous volley for Colombia against Uruguay at the World Cup in Brazil and collecting the Golden Boot with six goals. That volley also landed him FIFA\u2019s prestigious Puskas Award.<\/p>\n Real Madrid\u00a0secured an \u20ac80m (\u00a363m) deal as Monaco cashed in while the player\u2019s stock was high, but they weren\u2019t the only club to put a contract offer on the table.<\/p>\n \u201cPSG and City both wanted me. Both teams came with more lucrative offers\u00a0but I wanted glory, I wanted Real Madrid,\u201d Rodriguez recalled as he spoke to Twitch streamerPelicanger<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is nothing like Real Madrid. [President] Florentino Perez called me and asked me:\u00a0\u2018What do you want, money or glory?\u2019 I answered that what I wanted was glory.\u00a0He replied: \u2018Then, it\u2019s done.’\u201d<\/p>\n A year earlier, Manchester United had hoped to make Rodriguez one of Sir Alex Ferguson\u2019s final deals after previously missing out on Eden Hazard to Chelsea. But going from Porto to Monaco proved more appealing for reasons he later detailed in a chat with Rio Ferdinand\u2019s\u00a0The Locker Room<\/em>\u00a0in 2020, suggesting he was interested in heading to Old Trafford but had doubts about such a seismic move just a year before Colombia were due to play in their first World Cup since 1998.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there was some kind of talk there. My agent has a great relationship with [United] \u2013 his name is Jorge Mendes,\u201d Rodriguez explained.<\/p>\n James Rodriguez joined ambitious Monaco over Man Utd in 2013 \/ VALERY HACHE\/GettyImages<\/p>\n \u201cWe always dream of getting in a big club. Since I was a child, I always admired Manchester, I always saw those teams with Rio together, with [Ryan] Giggs and [Paul] Scholes \u2013 there were a lot of prodigious players \u2013 and I wanted to get there in that year. But it didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought I had to play for a club that wasn\u2019t so big. From there, I went to France just before the World Cup and my plan was to go to the\u00a0World Cup, have a great participation there, score goals, reach a good level and from there play for a big club. Then, the Real Madrid thing happened.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite missing two months with a fractured metatarsal, Rodriguez enjoyed a strong first season in Madrid with 35 goals and assists in 46 appearances across all competitions.<\/p>\n But a change of manager from Carlo Ancelotti to Rafa Benitez and then an injury early in 2015\/16 halted his momentum. By the following season, the Colombian was a fringe player and soon reunited with Ancelotti on a two-year loan at Bayern Munich.<\/p>\n Despite flashes of form, injuries limited him and the German giants opted against using a \u20ac42m option to buy, before a final season with Madrid yielded just eight La Liga appearances.<\/p>\n A 29-year-old Rodriguez showed signs of recapturing his old form upon joining Everton in 2020, playing under Ancelotti at a third different club, with six goals and assists in his first five Premier League games. But that soon dried up and injuries dictated the remainder of the campaign.<\/p>\n A year with Al Rayyan in Qatar followed, before returning to Europe with Olympiacos last season and then heading back to South American club football for the first time in 13 years when he linked up with Brazilian club Sao Paulo this past summer.<\/p>\n
\n![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/01hh02f42sdeb2mwfpsf.jpg\" "\\"James")
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