Atletico Madrid still in the hunt for Real Madrid outcast

Atletico Madrid believe they still have a chance of prising James Rodriguez away from city rivals Real Madrid, claims MARCA.

Rodriguez was heavily linked with a move to Atletico earlier in the summer before Madrid suddenly took the Colombia international off the market.

Florentino Perez ended negotiations with Atletico after Madrid were battered 7-3 by their Spanish rivals in a pre-season friendly at the end of July.

Napoli were also keen on signing the 28-year-old before being priced out of a deal and Madrid are running out of options to offload the out of favour midfielder now the transfer window for English clubs has closed.

It has since emerged Madrid are in talks to sign Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain but they may need to sell before they can afford the Brazil international.

Rodriguez does not feature in Zinedine Zidane’s long-term vision at Madrid and is an obvious candidate to leave before their transfer window closes.

Atletico have endured a stunning summer overhaul and head coach Diego Simeone is desperate to add a creative spark to complete their spending spree.

Tottenham ace Christian Eriksen is thought to be on Atletico’s radar but Rodriguez is Simeone’s preferred target.

Atletico believe the longer Rodriguez remains at Madrid the better chance they have of signing him.

Rodriguez spent the last two years on loan at Bayern Munich but the Bundesliga giants opted against making his switch permanent.

Despite failing to win over Niko Kovac’s side, Rodriguez was still at his creative best when on the pitch.

In fact, of players that started at least 10 Bundesliga matches over the last two seasons, Rodriguez required the fewest minutes per key pass (one every 24.1 minutes of playing time).