James Rodriguez joins Bayern on loan, with option to buy
July 11, 2017
The Bundesliga champions announced the deal to bring the attacking midfielder to Germany on Tuesday afternoon, subject to Rodriguez passing a medical. German media reports have estimated the buy-out clause to be just over 35 million euros and Rodriguez' wage to be five million euros per year.
"We are very happy that we were able to complete this transfer. The capture of James Rodríguez was the great wish of our coach Carlo Ancelotti after both had worked together successfully in Madrid," said Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, the Bayern CEO.
"James is a versatile player. He offers a goal threat, takes many shots and on top of that shoots with great accuracy. With this transfer, we can increase the quality of our team even further."
The 25-year-old joined Real from Monaco after a stunning World Cup where he won the golden boot and was named in the team of the tournament. At the time, the 80 million euro fee made him the third most expensive player of all time.
He made 46 appearances under Ancelotti at Real and scored 17 goals, adding 18 assists. Rodriguez fell down the pecking order under Ancelotti's predecessors Rafael Benitez and Zinedine Zidane but still managed to produce when he did get the chance, racking up eight goals and six assists in just over 1000 La Liga minutes this season.
His time at Madrid looked over when he was dropped altogether from the Champions League final squad, as the Spaniards beat Juventus.
Rodriguez follows Corentin Tolisso, Kingsley Coman, Niklas Süle, Serge Gnabry and Sebastian Rudy in joining the Bavarians this summer and is likely to be seen by Ancelotti as a long term replacement for aging widemen Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben.