Former Colombian international Faustino Asprilla has hit out at Zinadine Zidane. Asprilla asked Zidane to ‘eat s**t’ for not giving adequate playing time to fellow Colombian James Rodriguez. James has struggled to find game time at Real Madrid. He is far down the pecking order as far as Zidane is concerned and this hasn’t gone down well with Asprilla. He said that James deserved more respect from Zidane.
James only featured thirteen times in the 2019-20 season for Real Madrid. Even as Real Madrid took on Eibar in the first match post the coronavirus halt, all James could do was warm the bench. Even with five substitutes allowed per game, James wasn’t called to play by Zidane. Real Madrid beat Eibar 3-1 with Mendy, Militao, Bale, Vinicius Junior and Valverde all being called off the bench to play. While Zidane said that he considered all players important, it has been clear throughout the season that James isn’t on the top of the pecking order.
In a squad where this is no shortage of attacking firepower, James has struggled. He was in a similar situation three years ago, when he left to join Bayern on loan. His time in Germany wasn’t the best either with James failing to show the same mettle that saw him emerge as one of the finest forwards in world football in 2017. While time back at Real Madrid hasn’t really changed the fortunes for James, he would find it next to impossible to shift teams in the current scenario. His eight million euros a year salary would be too much for any club, due to the COVID-19 impact.
