James Rodriguez is very close to completing a loan move from Qatar Stars League side Al-Rayyan to Olympiacos, according to Fabrizio Romano.
The agreement between the two clubs is fully in place and Rodriguez flew to Greece on Wednesday to undergo the medical preceding the move. If that goes without any hitches, he will sign for Olympiacos and represent the Greek club for the rest of the season.
Rodriguez was tipped to become one of the best players in the world after delivering shining performances at the 2014 World Cup, winning the tournament’s Golden Boot in the process with six goals. Many still believe he was actually the best player there, but that award unsurprisingly went to Argentina superstar Lionel Messi instead.
That summer, Rodriguez left AS Monaco to join Real Madrid, but with the following season starting rather shakily for Los Blancos, Rafa Benitez was soon sacked from the head coach position and was replaced by Zinedine Zidane. The Frenchman wasn’t happy with the way Rodriguez played alongside Luka Modric and Toni Kroos and eventually sacrificed the Colombian for Casemiro to achieve more balance in the middle of the park.
Rodriguez spent two years on loan at Bayern Munich and returned for what would be his final season at Santiago Bernabeu. He left Real in 2020, joining Everton as a free agent, and Al-Rayyan came for him a year later.
Seeking to get his career back on track, Rodriguez probably won’t complete the deal in the time to be available for selection for Olympiacos’ Europa League clash with Freiburg on Thursday, but he could make his Super League Greece debut away to Aris on Sunday.
James Rodriguez to Olympiacos, deal set to be completed! Been told that the Colombian star will fly to Greece today — medical scheduled, there’s verbal agreement in place on loan deal. 🚨⚪️🔴🇨🇴 #transfers
If all goes as planned, James will sign later today.
Here we go soon. pic.twitter.com/tBlz4cPWuV
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 14, 2022
