The former Real Madrid Colombia star, James Rodríguez, believes that her talent eclipsed that of Luke Modric, Toni Kroos, Xavi and even Zinedine Zidane.
The bold claim occurred in the Rumbrado Spanish Television program El Chiringuito, where the person who currently played for Mexican team Leon was asked about the great midfielders.
And Rodríguez's response was shocking even for those familiar with the program.
Rodríguez was presented with the names of the ancient stars one by one and was asked to choose between them and himself. But on each occasion, the attacker midfielder remained firm in his personal belief.
However, he made an exemption slightly when asked about Zidane and Xavi. In the first, he said: “Zidane was very good, at its peak won the World Cup, but … James.”
Meanwhile, the name of the former star of Barcelona Xavi was mentioned, he said: “At its peak, James.”
James Rodríguez is currently playing for Mexican team Leon after a short period in LaLiga with Rayo Vallecano
The 33 -year -old believes that it was better than the legends of Real Madrid Luka Modric and Toni Kroos
Rodríguez also put himself above the legendary former midfielder of Barcelona and Spain Xavi
Rodriguez's case is certainly not helped by the fact that he played together and against many of the stars listed.
In fact, Zidane administered him during his time at the Bernabéu and could not get regular minutes behind Kroos and Modric.
The veteran revealed that Zidane has always been his idol and said he understood why the French did not use it often during his time in charge.
“Zidane has always been my idol,” he said. 'Sometimes I trained with us and had more quality than us. He had nothing against him, he wasn't upset as people said, but he found a great team in which he didn't fit.
“I played with him, but in the important matches I would put Kroos, Casemiro and Modric, and that is respectable.”
Rodríguez joined Leon in January after his contract with LaLiga Rayo Vallecano team was fired after seven appearances throughout the season. Leon has paid the club based in Madrid a symbolic rate of £ 0.84 million, according to Atlético.
The Mexican side is the 12th club of his nomadic career. Rodríguez has played for some of the world's largest clubs, such as Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, but struggled to achieve regular minutes and produce its form for Colombia in the club game.
After its sensational 2014 World Cup, including one of the best goals in the history of the tournament, a great movement of money to Realo from Monaco was won by £ 62 million.
Rodríguez revealed that Zinedine Zidane has always been his idol, but still believes he was a better player than the Frenchman
The Colombian was largely consigned to the bank during his time at the Bernabéu under the management of Zidane
He made 125 appearances, although only 94 begin in a period of six years in the books in the Whites, which presented a series of loan movements.
However, since two more years consisting of loan in the Bayern Munich between 2017-19, Rodríguez has frequently moved, joining next to Everton, the side of Qatari al-rayyan, Olympiacos and Sao Paulo, Rayo Vallecano and now Leon.
Many of these movements have been short, seeing torn contracts. He was the best paid player in Everton's history in around £ 220,000 per week, scoring six goals in 2020-21 under Carlo Ancelotti.
However, it was in Al-Rayyan that he admitted to feel “scared” after fighting to adapt to culture.