JAKARTA - Barcelona was one of the teams eyeing James Rodriguez before moving to Real Madrid in 2014. However, Los Blaugarana attracted their interest in the Colombia international because of his inconsistent play.
Manchester United is another club that has reportedly followed James's development from the age of 14, long before his professional debut with Envigado. Sir Alex Ferguson finally decided not to sign him after receiving negative reports from talent fitters.
A number of top European clubs were chasing James, and they also came to the conclusion that he was too light for a football player, according to The Telegraph . Barcelona is one such club and could have had James four years before Real Madrid, but decided against it.
Marcelo Teixeira, who collaborated with Manchester United in the South American market between 2008 and 2011, recalls that James's lack of pace and possible inability to adapt to the Premier League team's style of play were the main reasons behind the Red Devils' decision to reject the Colombian.
"United's talent guide in Argentina, Jose Mayorga, is a big fan of James," Teixeira told The Telegraph reported by MARCA , October 16.
"Mayorga always includes James's name in his reports, but the evaluation from the club is that his style of play is not compatible with the Premier League.
"Basically, their analysis is that he doesn't have the speed needed to develop and adapt to the intensity of the (England) game. United's chief scout (Jim Lawlor) considers other names like Maylson and Douglas Costa to be higher than James."
From Envigado, James moved to Banfield before joining Porto in 2010. He played there for three seasons and signed with Monaco in 2013.
Real Madrid earned his services in 2014 but he never managed to place himself in Madrid's starting line-up and was loaned to Bayern Munich in 2017.
He returned to Madrid two years later but barely featured under Zinedine Zidane who decided to leave him for Everton this summer.
On Merseyside, less than a month since his move, James became an important figure under Carlo Ancelotti.
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