James Rodríguez: “I wanted to leave and the club would not let me leave”

Few expected in 2015 that James Rodríguez, after his 17 goals and 18 assists in his excellent first year at Madrid, would find himself five years later in the situation in which he is at the moment. 78 minutes in the league (against Real Sociedad on June 21) is all the Colombian's baggage since the defeat in Mallorca at the end of October (1-0). That game led to a series of injuries and decisions that made Zidane lose confidence in the player completely (he ended the year at the tail of the minute van, with just 758 'played in 14 games), despite the fact that he had stopped his departure from the club the previous summer. The playmaker has talked about all this and more in the podcast of the famous speaker motivational Daniel Habif.

Future (contract ends next year and Madrid wants to make money): “I too would like to know where I am going. It may take days or weeks until I know where I am going. I really don't know. I want to go where I can. play, where I am happy and where I feel loved by everyone “.

Repeated substitutions: “It's frustrating not to play. I know I have the conditions to always play. But for other people I can't do it, so it's frustrating. If I were a bad player I would accept it, but I'm a person who wants to win and always play.”

Relationship with Zidane: “They are tastes. He has his own tastes for some players and is respectable. I don't get involved there. When you see that you don't have the same opportunities as your teammates, it's difficult. I wanted to leave and the club would not let me out. I wanted to leave Wherever I could have played, I knew that I would not have opportunities, because Zidane already had his base. My wish was that the fans would have the memory of my previous stage at Madrid, not this one … I scored 36 goals and 42 assists “.

Balance of the season: “It's one of the biggest disappointments of my career, but thank God I'm young and I have years to go to be happy.”

Possible destinations: “I've already been in several good leagues and the only thing missing is Serie A and the Premier League, you have to see where I want to go or where they want me to go. Going to England would be a good thing, it's a top league.”

Signing for Real Madrid: “I was at the World Cup, just before the third game against Japan. There they told me that Madrid wanted to talk. Jorge Mendes told me don't talk to anyone, don't lose focus, don't think about anything other than the World Cup … And I played a unique game against Japan. And then he called me and told me that he thought it was going to happen, but to focus on the second round. And I played against Uruguay and there it was incredible, I scored two goals … We closed the contract ” .

Ideal team: “There are so many good players that I have many in each position. But hey, my three forwards would be Maradona, Ronaldo the fat man and Pelé. And as a goalkeeper, I don't know now … I played with a spectacular one, which is Neuer.”

Best Colombian player of all time: (Chuckling) “Me”.