Real Madrid Transfer News: James Rodriguez Conspiracy Denied by Florentino Perez

Florentino Perez has denied accusations that a personal agenda led Real Madrid to sign James Rodriguez during the summer transfer window.

Reports in the Spanish press indicated the club's president had substantial personal reason to sanction the deal. 

Paul White/Associated Press

According to Mundo Deportivo (h/t ESPN FC's Dermot Corrigan) Rodriguez arrived in the same summer period Perez's construction company ACS agreed a €692 million deal to build highway and tunnel roadworks in his native Colombia.

But Perez, addressing the issue at Real's annual general meeting, per Spanish outlet AS (h/t Corrigan's report), assured the members that there was nothing underhanded regarding the club's biggest summer acquisition:

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Thirty-five percent of ACS' business is in Australia and there is no Australian in the squad. This is information put forward by the thugs [Ultras Sur]. While I am president, the thugs and delinquents are not going to return. Many are not socios and what they want is to dominate Madrid as happens in France and Italy. The more they call on you to resign, the more motivated you are to continue. I will stay on here. What most feeds that motivation are those who want to take over the club and who try to intimidate me.

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Real's capture of Rodriguez, who played a starring role in Colombia's run to the World Cup quarter-finals, was typical of a club that always attempts to purchase the planet's biggest names.

Perez is clearly adamant that no other reason was behind the summer signing, although Corrigan does point out the manner in which he went about his defence was perhaps excessive:

Tancredi Palmeri of beIN Sports also commented on the matter, arguing that the €80 million transfer is good value when considering the substantial windfall gained from ACS' agreement in Colombia:

Rodriguez is now the figure filling in the creative void left by the departed Angel Di Maria, who was coming off his best season to date in the Spanish capital and a highly impressive 2014 World Cup.

Sections of the Real support didn't want their Argentine international to leave the club, and his agent Eugenio Lopez revealed to Cadena COPE (h/t the Mail Online's Richard Arrowsmith) earlier in September just how eager his client was to stay:

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Before the World Cup there was no offer from Real Madrid. He never asked for €8m (£6.3m) per year and would've stayed for much less, even though there was a club who offered more. The idea was to wait and come to an agreement with Real Madrid in order for him to stay. He wanted to earn what they promised him and he would've stayed for much less than Manchester United is paying him.

He signed until 2018, but he wanted to improve his deal. Which is normal. They brought in Toni Kroos and James Rodriguez. That was a sign that something was wrong. But they didn't bring in James because Di Maria wanted to leave. They are very different players.

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As Lopez infers, Madrid deals are regularly conducted for non-footballing reasons. Di Maria offers totally different qualities to Rodriguez, yet was likely allowed to leave due to the financial benefits of bringing in a player of the Colombian's standing, post-World Cup.

Real Madrid stumped up the sizeable fee to ensure they owned the hottest property at the World Cup. It follows the Galactico ethos that previously saw Gareth Bale arrive for a world-record fee from Tottenham just a year earlier.

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At present, there seems no way to prove or disprove the theory that Perez had political motives behind the Rodriguez transfer, although one would be inclined to agree the timing of the two business matters falls coincidentally close to one another.

Rodriguez will go about justifying his price tag in order to stave off concerns an inflated fee was forked out. Unfortunately for the player, after last term's Decima triumph, he'll likely need some serious silverware to be declared a success at the club.