Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane has reportedly had a change of heart and has taken James Rodriguez off the market ahead of the transfer deadline.
The Spanish giants have been busy rebuilding the squad this summer as Zidane has seen Eden Hazard, Luka Jovic, Ferland Mendy, Eder Militao and Rodrygo all arrive at the Bernabeu.
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In order to balance the books and perhaps create space for further signings, exits were expected with Rodriguez one of the names in doubt given he has spent the last two seasons on loan at Bayern Munich.
Further, as noted by AS, the Colombia international was left out of the squad that travelled to Austria earlier this month with the report suggesting that he was in a group of players that Zidane was keen to offload along with Gareth Bale and Mariano Diaz.
In turn, the chances of a future at Real Madrid looked bleak for Rodriguez, but it appears as though Zidane has now performed a U-turn on the situation as El Partidazo de COPE report, via their tweet below, that the French tactician has now decided to take Rodriguez off the market.
It’s unclear as to whether or not that was a decision forced on Zidane though, as ultimately he hasn’t been able to add any further reinforcements in that department in recent weeks, while Marco Asensio suffered a serious injury in pre-season.
With that in mind, that perhaps forces Real Madrid to consider keeping Rodriguez and trying to re-integrate him back into the side to play a key role this coming season.
The 28-year-old arrived in the Spanish capital off the back of an impressive World Cup in 2014, and has bagged 36 goals and 40 assists in 111 appearances for Real Madrid.
For a club looking to compete on multiple fronts moving forward, it seems like a sensible decision to keep him, particularly if they aren’t able to add any more reinforcements before the transfer deadline.
? Noticia @deportescope
?? La situación de James Rodríguez en el Real Madrid ha cambiado
?? Zidane cuenta con él y ahora mismo no está en el mercado pic.twitter.com/JTbFw0TonJ
— El Partidazo de COPE (@partidazocope) August 15, 2019
