Colombian James Rodriguez, who plays for Olympiacos, said that when Spanish coach Rafa Benitez arrived at Everton he told him that he was already an old player and that he preferred young players for his team. For that reason, he said, he left the British club in 2021.
In a Twitch broadcast with Portuguese futsal player Ricardinho, James revealed: "Rafa Benitez told me on the first day of pre-season: 'Look, you're already old, you're 30 years old, I prefer to have young people, people with a lot of strength, with a lot of energy, who run, so find yourself a club.
"I told the CEO: 'In three months, he's going to be out. I know something about football, I've been with him and it's f***ed up. And after three months, he was out...", said the Colombian, who was voted this week as the best player of the month in the Greek League.
After that, the former Real Madrid and Bayern Munich player began to look for new destinations and accepted an offer from Al Rayyan, from Qatar, for the dream of playing in the World Cup with Colombia in that country. "I didn't go for a lot of money, but because I wanted to play. I said 'I'm playing in the World Cup, I'm doing well and I can leave', but we missed out on Qatar by one point," he revealed.
The player also acknowledged that he had a slight disagreement with former Colombia coach Reinaldo Rueda, who left him out of the squad for much of the qualifiers.
"I had a disagreement with the coach, it was nothing serious, but I wasn't there for six games and in those six games I could have done more. Then in the last four games I was there and we couldn't get things right. But it's over now, I'm thinking about making it to the next World Cup," he added.
He also recalled how "incredible" it was to play for Real Madrid and be coached by his idol, Zinedine Zidane. "For me it was incredible because I watched him play. Then I had him as a coach and it was unique to be there with him," he said.