SPAIN | RAYO VALLECANO
James Rodriguez eyes Rayo Vallecano debut on Monday
As the dust settles after the international window, the Colombian is back in training with his new club and could make his Rayo debut next week.
Excitement is building in in Vallecas and after his positive participation with the Colombian national team during the international break, James Rodríguez is back at Rayo Vallecano and looking ahead to his debut with the Spanish team. The new Rayo No. ‘10′ has been registered with LaLiga, so it will now simply depend on the head coach Perez whether the 33-year-old is involved in the next home game as Rayo face Osasuna at home next Monday.
Although the club has not set a date for his league debut, James is available to Iñigo Pérez and is focused on starting his time with Rayo. The midfielder, who is back in Spain after a great performance - with a goal and an assist - against Argentina, joined the Rayo training sessions this Friday and Saturday as the club plan for the matchday five clash against the side from Pamplona.
“Look who’s back in Vallecas,” was the post on the official Rayo Twitter/X account accompanying a photo of the Colombian midfielder. The player, for his part, also spoke about his return to training: “Back to work,” he said in an Instagram story.
Debut with Rayo imminent?
At present there is still a question mark hanging over James’ possible debut, but at the monet, the midfielder’s presence in the squad for that match has not yet been confirmed.
Rayo president Raul Martín Presa hopes that he “makes his debut as soon as possible”; however, he is aware that there is no need to take any risks, as the player arrived in the last few days of the transfer market, after a long period of inactivity at club level.
“He is another player in the squad, he is available and we hope he makes his debut as soon as possible. He joined us late, he had just played in the Copa America final in July... and now he has only played half of the game (vs. Peru) and yesterday (Tuesday) the whole game (vs. Argentina) with a great performance (…) We are going to take care of him, so that he can give us his best during the season,” was the Presa’s conclusion.