Manchester United facing unusual Premier League competition for James Rodriguez

Had you offered James Rodriguez to Manchester United in January, Ed Woodward would probably have splashed €110m. Now, United could probably do fine without him.

James is doing grand for himself at Real Madrid but he is very much third in the pecking order, behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. Good luck getting a free-kick ball of those two. Marca is reporting, today, that Rodriguez has asked his agent to sound out interest from the Premier League before he makes a call on his future. There are not many clubs in Europe that could afford the Colombian attacker, who is valued at £67m [€80m] but the Madridista newspaper has named three - United, Paris Saint Germain and... West Ham. Yes, West Ham. The Hammers. Forever Blowing Bubbles. That crowd. The club that is struggling to hang onto Diafra Sakho are apparently in the market for a marqueé signing to coincide with their arrival at their new home, the 60,000-seat Olympic Park Stadium. Slaven Bilic has been promised a bumper transfer budget as the club speculate to accumulate. Their initial outlay for the new digs was a reported £1 so they should have some money to spare. Thus far, Manchester United youngster is their most noteable signing and he was free. Plenty of change about, then, to splash on James.