How Manchester United missed the opportunity to sign James Rodriguez?

Carlo Ancelotti reveals why he is obsessed with James Rodriguez

United had been linked with the Colombian playmaker in the past, but a deal never happened.

James Rodriguez has been off to an impressive start in the Premier League with Everton, producing some man of the match displays. The interesting thing is how easily he adapted to the Premier League despite not being off form in the last few seasons.

Manchester United had been credited with an interest in James regularly in the past, but a deal never came to fruition.

However, a recent report reveals that United had the chance to sign the Colombian playmaker long ago, when he was playing at Atletico Banfield, but they overlooked it due to certain reasons.

 Marcelo Teixeira, who worked for the Red Devils across South America between 2008 and 2011, said that Jose Mayorga, then scout in Argentina, always recommended James’ name, but Man Utd deemed him unsuitable for the Premier League.

Teixeira said, “United’s scout in Argentina, Jose Mayorga, was a big fan of James,”

“Mayorga always included James’ name in his reports, but the evaluation from the club was that his playing style didn’t suit the Premier League.”

James then had spells at Porto and Monaco before ending up at Real Madrid in 2014, which happened right after a spectacular World Cup campaign at Brazil.

Despite confessing his admiration towards United since childhood, James opted to sign for Monaco as he intended not to play in a big club before the World Cup.

“I thought I had to play for a club that wasn’t so big. So, I went to France” just before the World Cup and my plan was to go to the World Cup, have a great tournament, score goals, reach a good level and then play for a big club.”

The Colombian endured some torrid time at Santiago Bernabeu due to injury concerns, which restricted his game time and also led to an intermittent loan spell at Bayern Munich between 2017 and 2019.

Everton snapped up the 29-year-old for free in the summer transfer window and he is already proving to be a bargain under his former manager Carlo Ancelotti.