The Rayo Vallecano president’s barb towards Lionel Messi, after confirming the signing of James Rodríguez

James Rodríguez signed a contract with Rayo Vallecano until June 2025, with the option to extend it for another year – credit Rayo Vallecano

Rayo Vallecano confirmed on Monday the signing of Colombian James Rodríguez, who will return to the Spanish La Liga after having been part of the Real Madrid squad between 2014 and 2017. After an uneventful stint at Sao Paulo in Brazil and his outstanding participation in the Copa América in the United States, the former Banfield player’s objective was clear: to return to the Old Continent.

In this context, the president of the institution from the Vallecas neighbourhood, Raúl Martín Presa, was enthusiastic about the signing of the attacking midfielder. “It is a pride to enjoy a player like him, he is at the peak of his career. He was just MVP of the Copa América a month ago, ahead of Messi,” said the director in an interview with the Cope channel.

The Madrid club’s president also took the opportunity to make an unexpected comparison with the legend who emerged from Rosario: “Do I prefer James to Messi? What I’m telling you is that the tournament’s jury decided that James was a more important player than Messi. But it would be foolish to argue about what Messi has been in the last two decades.”

Colombia and Argentina faced each other in the Copa America final – credit AFP

In addition, the Rayo boss revealed that the initial contact with his recent signing was made thanks to the intervention of a mutual friend: Radamel Falcao. “I called James directly a month ago. I got his phone number, because we have a mutual friend, who is Falcao. We sent him a WhatsApp; and from there we started working,” explained the manager, who compared the arrival of the former Merengue player with the historic signing of Diego Maradona by Napoli.

Through his social networks, the 33-year-old player revealed the number he will wear with the Madrid team, which opened the doors to Europe for him again. “A great joy to return to La Liga, also in a club like Rayo, a historic one as well and with a great desire to do things well. Wherever I go I always have this responsibility, I like to win and well, I hope to do things well in this important year for this beautiful club,” were the first impressions of James Rodríguez, and in a post on Instagram he showed that he will wear the iconic 10.

The club highlighted in a statement that they signed “their star signing” in a season that they consider special due to its 100-year history. For the team, James “represents the values ​​of the club” and brings with him aspirations to achieve great things, saying: “I am very excited to be able to play a match here and be able to show that I want to win.”

Although the player’s salary has not been officially revealed, several reports indicate that James will be the highest-paid player in the club’s history. Negotiations were in the region of three million euros to secure his arrival. James has signed a one-year contract, with the possibility of extending his contract for another season.

The formula for paying the salary of a player of James’ characteristics would be the same one used by the Blanquirojos with Radamel Falcao, part of which was the direct responsibility of the club and the surplus came from the South American sponsors who joined the club after the arrival of the Colombian. For each month, James would earn 250,000 euros per month (1,122,341,052 Colombian pesos), more than double what was known about Radamel’s salary, 100,000 euros per month (448,936,420 Colombian pesos).