James Rodriguez returns to Madrid with Rayo Vallecano

The best player of the recent Copa América in the United States is moving to Vallecas. James Rodríguez is returning to Spain at the age of 33, the same place where he clung to his dream of triumphing at Real Madrid for several seasons. After having terminated his contract with São Paulo, the Colombian number ten, top scorer at the 2014 World Cup and now captain of his national team, has reached maturity and is joining Rayo Vallecano in the centenary season, as the club celebrated on its social networks when making the signing official.

James follows in the footsteps of Radamel Falcao García by choosing the Madrid team, managed by Iñigo Pérez. He also fulfils his wish to return to European football after crowning an extraordinary Copa América, in which he confirmed the validity of his left foot by leading his team to a final that they lost at the last gasp to Messi’s Argentina. The attacking midfielder provided a record number of six assists and was chosen as the best player of the tournament. That earned him a refuge in Vallecas just days before the return of the South American qualifiers for the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States, in which Colombia visits Peru and receives Argentina – thirsty for revenge – at the beginning of September.

The once precocious Colombian prodigy has racked up goals and assists in a career that has taken him to the leagues of Argentina, Portugal, France, Spain, Germany, England, Qatar, Greece and Brazil, but also contracts that have been cut short for one reason or another. After terminating his contract with São Paulo, this is now the fourth consecutive time he has left his club early since he left La Liga in 2020. He left Everton in the Premier League a year before the end of his contract to sign for Qatari side Al-Rayyan, in what seemed like a premature end. But James also terminated his contract then to join Olympiakos. There he showed signs that he was back to his old self, but he left before the end of the season. After three months without a club, he arrived in Brazil just over a year ago, where he never had continuity.

His long-awaited redemption came with Colombia, where he has already played more than a hundred games. Ten years after the World Cup in Brazil in which he was crowned top scorer, the Colombians still move to the rhythm of their number ten, now accompanied by Luis Díaz, the Liverpool winger who has not hidden his admiration for the captain, five years older. Fortune may have turned against him at his last clubs – he only played a handful of games in 2024 with São Paulo – but with the yellow jersey James has always felt supported.

Néstor Lorenzo’s team is having a good moment, it is the only one that has not lost in the first six rounds of the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup in North America, in which it even had the luxury of beating Brazil in Barranquilla (2-1). In the Copa América he confirmed that great moment, with a rejuvenated James in stellar form. He gave two goal assists in the debut against Paraguay (2-1), another in the victory over Costa Rica (3-0), two more in the rout of Panama (5-0), in which he also scored from a penalty, and one more in the hard-fought semi-final victory over Uruguay (1-0). Half of Colombia’s 12 goals came from his passes, and another was his. The tricolor only surrendered to world champion Argentina, with a solitary goal from Lautaro Martínez in extra time of the final.

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