James Rodriguez's Father: Juventus Would Be 'Good Decision' for Summer Transfer

The father of Bayern Munich midfielder James Rodriguez has said he thinks Juventus would be a "good move" for the player in the summer. 

In 2017, Rodriguez signed for the German giants on a two-year loan from Real Madrid with an option to buy, but he's struggled to make a consistent impact at the Allianz Arena. 

It was reported by Kicker (h/t Marca) in November that Bayern will not take up the option to make the deal permanent. As such, speculation has started to gather pace regarding where Rodriguez will be playing his football in 2018-19.

The player's father believes Juventus would be a smart career choice for Rodriguez and noted that he's on good terms with the Serie A side's current star man Cristiano Ronaldo, per Bild (h/t Football Italia).

"He's received many offers," he said. "Juventus? He's very close to Cristiano Ronaldo. For how I see Italian football, going to Juventus would be a good decision."

The player himself also spoke to Bild (h/t Goal), dismissing speculation of a rift between himself and coach Niko Kovac.

"We are both professionals," he said. "We have a normal player-coach relationship. I'll stay calm and train hard. I have four months left on my contract and I'm only thinking about Bayern."

At the moment Rodriguez's stock is low. Having been let go by former Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane it was anticipated he would thrive at Bayern under Carlo Ancelotti, who had previously got the best from him in the Spanish capital.

Despite Ancelotti's departure early last season, Rodriguez had a strong 2017-18 campaign but has failed to build on it. In 2018-19 he's only started six times in the Bundesliga, netting three goals in the process.

On Saturday he got a long-awaited start in the Bundesliga against Bayer Leverkusen but was taken off after 77 minutes as the team slumped to a 3-1 loss:

WhoScored.com broke down the numbers behind what was an encouraging debut campaign for the player at Bayern:

Following the 2014 FIFA World Cup the Colombia international was rated as one of the game's rising stars. 

However, Rodriguez has never been able to consistently repeat the performance levels he showcased in Brazil that summer and will be desperate to find some stability in what should be the peak years of his career.

Juventus are the dominant force in Italian football and are in a strong position to challenge for the Champions League. However, they have an exceptional squad already with numerous attacking options, meaning it's not entirely clear where Rodriguez would fit in alongside someone like Ronaldo.