Although both Real Madrid and Everton announced that they did not pay when they signed James Rodroguez, there was talk of it costing 25 million euros. FIFA to the president of Colombian side Envigado that that was not the case.
James came through the Envigado academy and then he began to shine at Banfield. These clubs started to get concerned when talk arose of James Rodriguez being signed by Everton from Real Madrid for 25 million euros instead of being free.
If this is true, the Colombians would be owed a sum of money. The president of the Colombian told '60 minutos a la redonda' on 'Antena 2 Colombia' that they asked FIFA to investigate it."
"We got a bit lost on that matter. FIFA responded saying that the deal had been done for free. Today, James is among the most valued players and he scored his 100th goal in Europe. Not everyone gets that. But for them, he is still free for them," he said.
"But obviously we couldn't sue them and we had to accept the information we got from Everton and leave it at that," Ramiro Ruiz continued. That means the debate over whether Everton paid for James or not is over.