Munich (Germany) (AFP) – Colombia’s hot-shot James Rodriguez has joined Bayern Munich on a two-year loan from Real Madrid, the Bundesliga club announced on Tuesday.
The two clubs have agreed on a two-year deal until June 30, 2019, with the option for Bayern to buy the 25-year-old midfielder who was the top scorer at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
“We’re delighted we’ve been able to complete this transfer,” said Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge.
“Signing James Rodriguez was our coach Carlo Ancelotti’s biggest wish, following their successful spell working together in Madrid.
“James is a very versatile player.
“He’s a goalscorer himself, he sets up a lot of goals and on top of that he’s great from set-pieces.
“There’s no question that this transfer further increases the quality in our team.”
The attacking midfielder has been recruited by the Bavarian giants with a few of their star-studded squad threatening to leave.
Brazil forward Douglas Costa is negotiating a transfer with Juventus while winger Serge Gnabry, 21, who has only just signed from Werder Bremen, wants to be loaned out to gain experience.
James joined Real in July 2014 for 75m euros from Monaco on the back of his outstanding performances at the Brazil World Cup, where he scored six goals in the finals as Colombia reached the quarter-finals.
His best season at Real was in 2014/15, under current Bayern boss Ancelotti, when he scored 17 goals, with 18 assists, in 46 matches.
But Rodriguez struggled to break into Real’s star-studded first team under Ancelotti’s replacement Zinedine Zidane.
He made just 13 starting appearances last season in the Spanish league with a further nine off the bench.
Matters came to a head in April when James expressed his frustration after being replaced in a 4-2 win at Leganes.
“I am satisfied with James and find it perfectly normal for him to get upset in such a situation,” said Zidane at the time.
The writing was on the wall for the Colombian at the Bernabeu from then on and he expressed his desire to move long before Bayern came calling.
He played against his future employers for just seven minutes when Real beat Bayern in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and was left out of the squad which beat Juventus 4-1 in the final.
James will get straight down to business at Bayern.
He flies with Ancelotti’s squad on their tour of China and Singapore, which leaves on Sunday, and will include stars Thomas Mueller, Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben.
James will be joined by fellow new signing Corentin Tolisso, 22, who has just joined Bayern from French side Lyon for 41.5 million euros ($47.3m).
Alongside Tolisso, Gnabry and James, the German champions are set to add two new names to their squad for next season with Germany internationals Niklas Suele and Sebastian Rudy signed from Hoffenheim.
