James Rodriguez would snub a Premier League move to stay at Bayern Munich
Colombian, 26, has 15 months remaining on the two-year loan he signed with the German giants at the start of the season
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JAMES RODRIGUEZ would snub a Premier League move in favour of staying at Bayern Munich.
The Colombian superstar, 26, has 15 months remaining on the two-year loan deal he signed with the German giants at the start of the season.
Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United all showed an interest in the playmaker before Bayern landed him in a £9m loan agreement Real Madrid - who would bank £31m if the move becomes permanent.
James now appears revitalised and a happier player to that who warmed the Bernabeu bench, with Zinedine Zidane preferring the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, Isco and Marco Asensio.
And he has hinted that he would like to extend his stay in Bavaria.
After Colombia's 0-0 draw with Australia at Craven Cottage, SunSport asked the playmaker whether he would consider a move to England. He said: "At Bayern I'm fine, I'm good at Bayern.
"In France (at Monaco) I was playing, now at Bayern I'm always playing and I think that's good to arrive (at the World Cup) with a good rhythm.
"What the not-so-good moments gave me at Real Madrid, I think they helped me grow.
"With time you learn to be calmer. I always want to be good, but with the time you also learn to be calm."
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Now that he is starting regularly under Jupp Heynckes for the Bundesliga champions, James believes he is back to the form that saw him set alight the 2014 World Cup.
He was joint-top scorer alongside Leo Messi with six strikes - including a screamer against Uruguay in a last-16 win that landed him the goal of the tournament gong - to help secure a £63m move from Monaco to Madrid.
He added: "I'm at the same level I was. I played well because in that year I was playing regularly too.
"You always dream to have a great World Cup. I hope that will be the case."
James and Los Cafeteros showed they could be a strong outside bet for Russia's tournament by coming from two goals down to beat France 3-2 on Friday.
Talented defenders Yerry Mina and Davinson Sanchez have come into a side that boasts the attacking threat of James, Falcao and Juan Cuadrado.
Yet the South Americans failed to put away the Socceroos in west London, twice hitting the woodwork from close range before Miguel Borja missed an 86th-minute penalty.
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For all James' talk of "calm", Aussie veteran Tim Cahill claims Colombia are among the best "three or four" international sides on the planet.
James responds: "I don’t think that we should go into this. We just have to be calm.
"We have to do our job, which is to be calm and be able to be better every day."
