The Curious Case Of James Rodriguez
Colombia's golden boy just can't rediscover his form in club football.
This is a guest article by Chirag Sharatkumar. Subscribe to Sideline Stories.
“We are a humble but ambitious team, like Napoli when they signed Maradona,” said Rayo Vallecano president Martin Presa, upon securing the signing of James Rodriguez to the club over the summer.
Yes, that James Rodriguez, who scored that volley at the World Cup in 2014.
Right then. James to Rayo a bit like Maradona to Napoli? Oh Mr. Presa, I have a bridge to sell you.
It feels fitting that James, once European football’s golden child, is now plying his trade with Rayo in Vallecas, the working-class heart of Madrid. Vallecas is scrappy and proud, its football club emblematic of the grit and determination that fills its streets.
Rayo is a far cry from the glittering lights of the Santiago Bernabeu just a metro ride away. And James is a far cry from the grit and determination that epitomizes Rayo. Yet here he is: the prodigy-turned-puzzle, stepping onto the same turf as plenty of journeymen before him. Except he’s not really.
To understand James is to understand his career. Today, he sits on the bench at Rayo, like a pen slowly running out of ink, but it wasn’t always like this. His is a story, like many, written in two acts.
The first: exciting, tantalizing, steeped in potential and glory. It promised a rise so prolific and so magnificent that the beginnings alone were enough to impress.
Porto, Monaco, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich — those years were written in bold, the kind of ink that didn’t stain, but gracefully signed the pages of football history. This is a CV that reads like the who’s who of some of Europe’s most storied clubs, each one a stepping stone just that much bigger than the last.
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