Former Real Madrid Colombia international attacking midfielder James Rodriguez joins León on a free transfer..

León announced on its official website on Monday that former Real Madrid Colombia international attacking midfielder James Rodriguez has joined the club as a free agent.

According to the Liga MX club's official statement, James has signed on a short-term one-year deal with the club which will only run until this winter. At the same time, he will also wear the No. 10 jersey.

About James Rodriguez

The 33-year-old James Rodriguez was born on July 12, 1991 in Cucuta, Colombia. He is 1.8 meters tall and primarily plays as an attacking midfielder. He can also play as a left winger or right winger. He has dual nationalities of Colombia and Spain.

James joined Envigado's youth academy at the age of 4, and completed his Envigado first-team debut by coming on as a substitute in January 2006. He was only 14 years old at the time.

During his two-year spell at Envigado, James won the Colombian Second Division once with the club.

In January 2008, James joined Banfield.

During two-year spell at Banfield, James won the Argentine Primera Division once with the club.

In July 2010, James joined Porto for €5.1 million.

During his three-year spell with Dragões, James won the Portuguese Primeira Liga three times, the Taça de Portugal once, the Portuguese Super Cup once and the UEFA Europa League once with the club. Such outstanding performances also attracted the attention of Manchester United.

In July 2013, James moved to Monaco for €45 million, becoming one of the most expensive players in the club's history.

Although he failed to win any titles with the club, James attracted the fierce pursuit of Real Madrid because of his outstanding personal performances at Monaco and the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

In July 2014, James joined Real Madrid for £63 million, becoming the most expensive player in Colombian football history.

During his six-year spell with Los Blancos, he won the La Liga twice, the UEFA Champions League twice, the UEFA Super Cup twice, the FIFA Club World Cup twice and the Supercopa de España with the club once.

In July 2017, James was loaned-out to Bayern Munich for two years, during which he won the Bundesliga twice and the DFB-Pokal once with the club.

After leaving the club after his contract had expired in September 2020, James joined Everton as a free agent.

At first, James performed very well under former head coach Carlo Ancelotti, but since Ancelotti returned to coach at Real Madrid the following year, James has been completely frozen out of the squad.

After terminating his contract and leaving Everton in September 2021, James has played for Al-Rayyan, Olympiacos and São Paulo successively. Although he won the Copa do Brasil with the latter during this spell, James always ended up having his contract being terminated wherever he went.

After leaving São Paulo, James joined Rayo Vallecano as a free agent in August 2024.

However, after only playing half a year for the La Liga club, James had his contract terminated again. During this spell, he only played 7 times for Rayo in all competitions and assisted 1 time.

It is worth mentioning that throughout this entire spell, James has always continue to become one of the most outstanding players in the Colombian national team.

According to reports from all over the world, James has always been concerned about his personal interests in the attacking end and was unwilling to help the team defend. In the end, his head coaches at Al-Rayyan, São Paulo, Rayo Vallecano, and the Greek Super League giants who had worked with him were all extremely disappointed with his attitude.