Arsenal are reportedly very interested in signing James Rodriguez from Real Madrid and according to the reports, the club is working hard to get him to London but is he worth the money?

James Rodriguez is a transfer target for plenty of top European clubs, including Manchester United, with Chelsea also looking into the possibility of going for the player.

The 25-year-old midfielder made 33 appearances for Real Madrid last season, but plenty of those came from the bench. He managed to bag 11 goals and assist 13 times but it doesn’t seem like Zinedine Zidane is particularly satisfied with the player.

The Colombian joined Real Madrid from Monaco for €75m after a series of stunning performances at World Cup in Brazil and a season before at Monaco.

He is married to David Ospina’s sister.

Style and strengths

James Rodriguez is at his best with the ball at his feet and knows exactly when to run with the ball and when to play an insightful pass. He creates an average of 2 chances per-game, combined with 1.73 key passes, and has an 89% passing success rate.

He is also very good at finishing attacks and the midfielder somehow always finds a way to put the ball past the keeper, scoring a goal every three games. On average, he takes 1.45 shots per-game and is a constant threat for the opposition.

Rodriguez is very versatile midfielder and can be deployed on the right or left wing but is best suited in the central midfield role or as an attacking midfielder behind the main striker.

Weaknesses

Aerial duels can sometimes be a problem for the player, especially when up against a physically stronger opponent and James could put some extra work into learning how to position himself better in these kind of situations.

His defensive work isn’t the worst, but when he gets assigned a slightly deeper role in midfield, his defensive shortcomings come to the fore.

Tackling is probably the weakest part of his defensive game and the player wins 0.82 tackles per-game while losing 1.36 tackles. He also commits 0.55 fouls per-game.

If he comes to Arsenal…

The Colombian international is one of the most skillful players in the game.

His ability to pick a pass and score a goal are tremendous and his influence on the whole team is visible with every pass he makes.

At Arsenal, he would be best used in a central midfield position, possibly alongside a more defensive oriented midfielder like Xhaka or Coquelin (lol).

Rodriguez would be a first team starter at most of the top clubs in Europe and Arsenal are among those clubs. The player has his best years ahead of him and if he can be guaranteed a first team role, there wouldn’t be many obstacles in the way of the player coming to the Emirates.

If Arsene Wenger manages to keep Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil at the club, and signs a top quality striker to lead the attacking spear-head, James would fit in perfectly.

Real Madrid’s asking price for James is believed to be around €70m and the player would surely justify every cent of that sum.

Skills & goals

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHICWSbSt3Q