Napoli closing in on James Rodriguez

James Rodriguez may finally be about to see his Real Madrid career come to an end.

According to Gianluca Di Marzio of Sky Sport, Napoli has agreed to personal terms with James and now just need to reach an agreement with Real Madrid. Th report states that Napoli would prefer a one year loan with an option to buy over an immediate transfer. If Real agrees to this then it would bring an end to a 5 year run that has found James struggling to find the form that made him a star at the 2014 World Cup.

Real fans had high hopes for James when he joined the squad after seeing him win the Golden Boot at the World Cup earlier that summer. That first season was his best with Real as he managed 13 goals and 13 assists in La Liga in his 29 appearances. Unfortunately, he saw his playing time decrease each of the next two years after Carlo Ancelotti was replaced by Zinedine Zidane. This led to him rejoining Ancelotti over at Bayern Munich on a 2 year loan with an option to buy.

In his first year at Bayern he earned his most playing time since that first season at Real and

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managed to contribute 7 goals and 11 assists in the Bundesliga. This time around Ancelotti barely made it past Rodriguez’s first month with the team, but it didn’t impact his playing time until year 2. After seeing a decrease in playing time during his second year at Bayern he will once again be looking to reunite with Carlo Ancelotti who will be in his second year at Napoli.

James looks like a good fit for this version of Napoli. The Italian side clearly wasn’t prepared for the steep decline of Marek Hamsik last season and struggled to field a midfield that could compete against the best of the best. The introduction of James to a midfield  that already contains Allan and an improving Fabian Ruiz could be a force to be reckoned with over the coming years.

It will all depend on whether or not regular starts will help James return to the form that excited Real fans 5 years. For now he’ll likely just be excited to get another chance at a fresh start with a manager he clearly enjoys playing for.