- James Rodriguez gained global recognition after his 2014 World Cup heroics
- The 33-year-old joined the 12th club of career in January following poor spells
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Former Real Madrid Colombia star James Rodriguez believes his talents eclipsed that of Luke Modric, Toni Kroos, Xavi and even Zinedine Zidane.
The bold claim came on the bombastic Spanish TV program El Chiringuito, where the 33-year-old – currently playing for Mexican side Leon – was asked his opinion on the great midfielders.
And Rodriguez’s response proved shocking even for those familiar with the show.
Rodriguez was presented with the names of the former stars one by one and asked to chose between them and himself. But on every occasion, the attacking midfielder remained steadfast in his personal belief.
Though, he did slightly waiver when asked about Zidane and Xavi. On the former, he noted: ‘Zidane was very good, at his peak he won the World Cup, but… James.’
Meanwhile, former Barcelona star Xavi’s name was brought up, he said: ‘At its peak, James.’
Rodriguez’s case is certainly not aided by the fact he played alongside and against many of the stars listed.
Indeed, he was managed by Zidane during his time at the Bernabeu and failed to get regular minutes behind the likes of Kroos and Modric.
The veteran revealed that Zidane has always been his idol and he claimed he understood why he wasn’t used often by the Frenchman during his time in charge.
‘Zidane has always been my idol,’ he said. ‘Sometimes he would train with us and he had more quality than us. I had nothing against him, I wasn’t upset as people said, but he found a great team that I didn’t fit into.
‘I played with him, but in the important matches he would put Kroos, Casemiro and Modric in, and that’s respectable.’
Rodriguez joined Leon in January after his contract with LaLiga side Rayo Vallecano was terminated following seven appearances all season. Leon have paid the Madrid-based club a symbolic fee of £0.84million, as per The Athletic.
The Mexican side are the 12th club of his nomadic career. Rodriguez has played for some of the biggest clubs in the world, such as Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, but struggled to nail down regular minutes and produce his form for Colombia in the club game.
After his sensational 2014 World Cup – including one of the best goals in the tournament’s history – he earned himself a big money move to Real from Monaco for £62million.
He made 125 appearances, though only 94 were starts across a six year stint on the books at Los Blancos, which featured a number of loan moves.
However, since a somewhat more consistent two years on loan at Bayern Munich between 2017-19, Rodriguez has moved around frequently, joining Everton, Qatari side Al-Rayyan, Olympiacos and, Sao Paulo, Rayo Vallecano, and now Leon.
Many of those moves have been short-lived, seeing contracts ripped up. He was the highest-paid player in Everton’s history on around £220,000 per week, scoring six goals in 2020-21 under Carlo Ancelotti.
However, it was at Al-Rayyan that he admitted to feeling ‘afraid’ after struggling to adapt to the culture.