After being part of two UEFA Champions League-winning squads with Real Madrid, out-of-favour Colombia international James Rodriguez has become frustrated at his lack of playing time under head coach Zinedine Zidane.
Off the back of a stellar 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament, the creative midfielder joined Los Blancos from AS Monaco for an estimated £63 million (R136.6 million), and by the end of the 2014/15 campaign the maestro had scored 17 goals and registered 18 assists in all competitions for Real.
However, by the end of the 2016/17 season, despite scoring 11 times and assisting 12 strikes, he agreed to join Bayern Munich on a two-year loan deal, but made a minimal impact even though he won two Bundesliga titles.
Since his return to the Spanish giants this season, the 28-year-old has made only nine starts, and with the current form of Eden Hazard, it is unlikely Zidane will want to remove the Belgium international from the starting line-up.
Despite the Belgian's presence at the Santiago Bernabeu, though, Rodriguez did not have an answer when he was asked recently why he has not been a Real regular of late.
"That's a good question, I'd like to know myself (laughs)!" he told Spanish publication AS.
"As I said before, when you have won major trophies with players who you trust, and you have the core of a successful team, it's very difficult to make changes.
"It's also complicated when the coach isn't playing you all of the time, you can't really show what you can do when you only play for a small amount of time. Those involved in football know what I mean.
"I understand that (Zinedine) Zidane has the backbone of his team as he wants, he's won a lot with players who he has faith in."
