James Rodriguez has signed a six-year deal with Real Madrid.
The club says the 23-year-old Colombia forward, who scored a tournament-leading six goals at the World Cup in Brazil, will be presented to fans at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.
Rodriguez passed a medical examination earlier at the Sanitas Clinic in the northern suburb of La Moraleja.
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Sports newspapers Marca and As said Madrid agreed to pay Monaco 80 million euros (Dh397.4m) for Rodriguez, and that the player would join the squad on Aug. 1.
Rodriguez, who had joined AS Monaco from FC Porto last year, is Madrid’s second signing after Germany midfielder Toni Kroos joined Thursday from Bayern Munich.
Neither team gave the transfer fee.
Rodriguez will be unveiled at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu stadium at 8pm, the club said in a statement.
Shortly before the announcement, Rodriguez posed for pictures and gave the thumbs up sign as he left the Madrid clinic where he underwent medical tests.
“I am very happy. We will talk later,” he told reporters.
“Everything went well.”
He had only been at Monaco for one year but his sizzling Golden Boot performance at the World Cup made him the No 1 target for many European clubs.
Earlier, his spectacular volley against Uruguay was crowned the best goal of the World Cup as the speculation around his imminent signing mounted.
In a Fifa.com poll, his volley against Uruguay in the last-16 was declared goal of the tournament by more than four million voters – three quarters of those who took part.
Robin van Persie’s diving header for Netherlands against Spain in Group B came second.
Rodriguez collected a ball on the edge of the penalty area with his back to the Uruguay goal. He chested the ball over his head, turned and fired the volley into the goal via the underside of the crossbar.
The goal established the global reputation of the young playmaker, who cost Monaco €45m one year ago when he was signed from Porto.
Marca newspaper said Real will pay €75m straight away and up to €5m more in add-ons.
If confirmed, the fee would make Rodriguez the fourth most expensive player in history behind Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo (both of Real) and Luis Suarez who joined Barcelona this month.
James played in 34 Ligue 1 matches for Monaco last season, making 30 starts, and scored nine goals.
Rodriguez will strengthen Madrid’s offensive lineup by joining Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema in attack, and will likely wear the No. 10 shirt, vacated when Mesut Ozil left Madrid for Arsenal.
Rodriguez went to the World Cup as Colombia’s second-best known striker. But Radamel Falcao was injured in January leaving the starring role to his Monaco teammate as Colombia reached the last-16 for the first time.
Uruguay’s coach Oscar Tabarez compared Rodriguez to Argentine legends Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, the, “players who succeed in doing things because they are special.”
The Colombian has made it clear for a long time that it was La Liga that he wanted to get to.
“The Spanish league is a league that I’ve always watched – it’s different from the English League, which is very physical,” he told Fifa.com in an interview in November.
“The game in Spain is more about technique, and about getting more touches on the ball. That’s why I like it so much.”
Rodriguez started his career at 16 for Colombian second division side Envigado FC and built up an immediate reputation.
In 2008, he was signed by Argetinian side Atletico Banfield where he became known as “James Bond of Banfield” after scoring an extraordinary left-footed lob for the unfashionable side in February 2010.
He moved to FC Porto in Portugal where more spectacular goals brought three league titles in three seasons. Monaco bought him in May 2013.
Rodriguez prides himself most in having been dubbed ‘El Pibe Nueva’ (the New Kid) in place of Carlos Valderrama, Colombia’s star of the 1990s, who was called ‘El Pibe’.
“It’s an honour to be considered the heir to ‘El Pibe’ at my age,” he told Fifa.com.
“Since I was little, I admired Valderrama and I always wanted to be like him. He was my hero and I am proud to wear the number 10 for Colombia while helping the national team return to the World Cup.”
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