Messi gave up some of his holiday but not James Rodriguez
James Rodriguez reached the semi final of the Copa America with Colombia on June 22nd and finally joined up with the Real Madrid squad yesterday. Lionel Messi reached the final with Argentina only to be disappointed after falling short on a penalty shoot-out with the striker being involved in the competition for four days more than James. Messi returned last weekend to join up with the Barça squad cutting short his vacation by one week. The Argentine is one of Barça's key players and a Ballon D'Or winner on five occasions. James is not a regular in the Real Madrid first team and has yet to trouble the podium at the Ballon D'Or ceremony and it was interesting to see that Messi was the player prepared to sacrifice some of his free time.
James has all the raw talent but at the moment that's not enough, he needs to be more committed. He came back from holiday later than Benítez wanted last year and even though his holidays are his, other players such as Morata, Lucas Vázquez and Kovacic, just like Messi all came back to training earlier than scheduled. Competition for places is fierce at Real Madrid and these players are aware that in order to challenge for a place in the line up then they need to be in optimum condition.
James was a regular starter in his first season at the club. Benítez pleaded that he return early for pre-season last year but to no avail. Over time under Benitez and later Zidane, the Colombian player has drifted from the starting line-up to the substitute's bench with Casemiro being used as a holding midfielder and when a place appears James has Isco as competition and it was the player from Malaga who got playing time at the Champions League final in Milan not him. The player can still call on the support of Florentino but he's failing to convince Zidane with the French coach pushing for the acquisition of Paul Pogba which would be funded by the sale of James. The Colombian player wants to stay at the Bernabeu but it's time for him to start to pull his weight.
