James Rodriguez is believed to have rejected the prospect of a January move to Arsenal in favour of fighting for a place under Zinedine Zidane at the Bernabeu.
The Colombian is currently out of action with injury and is expected to remain sidelined into mid-December, but with the January window on the horizon, the speculation stops for no man.
Prior to picking up the knee injury while on international duty in October, the 28-year-old had made just four starts for Real, leading to swathes of reports that he is surplus to requirements and could be shipped out on a similar deal to the one that saw him join Bayern Munich in 2017.
But while Arsenal are touted as the latest through a revolving door of reportedly interested parties to make tentative enquiries about the possibility, Marca report that’s not an option Rodriguez will pursue in January.
It’s said he has no interest in leaving Madrid mid-season, and wants to return from injury to fight for a place and help his side continue their recovery from a difficult start to the season.
James has made just nine appearances in all competitions so far, the latest coming from the start in the 1-0 defeat to Mallorca.
Since then, however, Real have taken ten points from 12 in La Liga, scoring 13 and conceding just once, to move level on points with Barcelona at the top of the division.
A convincing win over Galatasaray and a draw with PSG have also fished their Champions League campaign out of the fire, meaning the side Rodriguez is set to return to will likely be in a stronger position than the one he left.
Given how bleak his future at the club looked in the summer, it’s easy to see why some outlets sense an inbound January departure, but the word from Spain is this won’t be the case.
Arsenal sacked coach Unai Emery on Friday morning, following a dire 2-1 home defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League. Freddie Ljungberg has been installed in temporary charge. It remains to be seen whether he will be given much of a budget in January.
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