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Club Make Mammoth Transfer Bid For James Rodriguez

Club Make Mammoth Transfer Bid For James Rodriguez

Just days before he said he was staying put.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

"Should I stay or should I go?" was the question James Rodriguez posed to himself at the beginning of the year and the Colombian decided that the Bernabeu would remain his home for now. But not before one club made a ridiculous bid for him.

Rodriguez has only made four starts in La Liga so far this season as Real Madrid have made the league look pretty easy as their winning run continues to 39, equalling Barcelona's record, and that has caused many questions about his future.

At one point it was thought that the former Monaco 'number 10' would be leaving the Spanish capital this month with Manchester United, Chelsea and Juventus all linked with a move from the player. But then at the beginning of the month he claimed he was happy to stay, and that was the end of it.

Now it appears that the scorer of the best goal in 2014 made his statement after turning down a move from, you guessed it, Chinese club Hebei Fortune who were offering £95 million plus £500k-a-week to the player!

Florentino Perez
Florentino Perez

According to Spanish newspaper AS the bid came when representatives from the Far East club met Florentino Perez at the Globe Soccer awards in December.

They initially offered Real £63 million, which was the price that Los Blancos paid for Rodriguez after his eye catching performances for Colombia at the 2014 World Cup, but Perez rejected the first bid.

Fortune then upped their bid to a near £100 million but the players representative, Jorge Mendes, then jumped in to decline the offer so even if Real wanted to take the money it wouldn't have happened.

Jorge Mendes
Jorge Mendes

According to the Spanish newspaper Rodriguez currently 'only' earns £58k-a-week so could have earned nearly 10x his current salary if he had decided to move to the Chinese Super League.

Hebei Fortune are managed by former Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini.

Rodriguez could have become the latest high profile signing to China this winter following moves for fellow South Americans Oscar and Carlos Tevez as well as John Obi Mikel and Axel Witsel.

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