Report: Arsenal one of two ‘serious options’ for James Rodriguez | OneFootball

Arsenal are one of two ‘serious options’ available to James Rodriguez this summer, according to reports.

BeIN SPORTS report in France that Rodriguez is ‘undesirable’ in the eyes of Real Madrid head coach Zinedine Zidane, and must find a new home this summer. They relay claims that Arsenal and Serie A’s Juventus are the two strongest options for the Colombia international.

BeIN add that Madrid are willing to take a serious hit on the €75m they paid for Rodriguez in 2014, offering him out for just €35m (£30.85m). That’s still likely to be out of Arsenal’s budget if they don’t qualify for the Champions League though, so there’s not going to be any movement in this story until after Wednesday, at least.

Rodriguez was on loan with Bayern Munich for the last couple of seasons, and he scored seven goals and assisted six in 28 appearances for the Bundesliga side in 2018/19. Bayern had an option to sign the 27-year-old permanently, but they decided not to take it up.

Though that’s not particularly encouraging for potential buyers, Rodriguez has still performed well in his reduced appearances for Bayern. He just fell out of favour and suffered some injury problems towards the end of his loan.