Coutinho to Bayern, PSG and Real Madrid could pull off stunning swap deal involving Neymar, Paul Pogba makes shock exit claim and more: Transfer Roundup, 12 August 2019

Napoli set to end their pursuit of James Rodriguez

James Rodriguez is aset to leave Real Madrid this summer — James Rodriguez is all set to leave Real Madrid this summer

Real Madrid midfielder James Rodriguez is not expected to be part of Zinedine Zidane's plans for the upcoming season. As such, he has been linked with an exit, with Napoli being mentioned as potential suitors.

However, the Partenopei are now close to ending their interest and instead focusing their attention on PSV Eindhoven winger Hirving Lozano. Napoli wanted to take him on loan till the end of the season with an option to buy. However, Real Madrid are not interested in a loan deal.

The report says that Aurelio De Laurentiis is not willing to buy James this season. Napoli have started negotiations for Lozano and are keen on signing him instead of the Colombian international as the Mexican is 4 years younger than James and would cost them much less.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Arvind Sriram