Manchester City enter race to sign James Rodriguez from Real Madrid

Sport reports that the 24-year-old - whose value is said to be as high as €90 million in the eyes some clubs - already has a string of clubs vying for his signature, but that the strongest interest so far is reportedly from City and their local rivals Manchester United.

Paris St Germain and Bayern Munich are the other main parties thought to be keen. The French side are reportedly ready to lay out the required €90m - according to AS - but Bayern may have a trump card in Carlo Ancelotti, the former Real Madrid manager who first brought James to the Spanish capital in 2014.

Sport's report adds that Manchester City are also keen on signing Isco from Real, though the Spanish playmaker - like James, still just 24 - appears to have better prospects of playing regularly under Zinedine Zidane.

There is essentially nothing in this report beyond the simple facts: City have money and a need for new players, while James is obviously disaffected at the Bernabeu and indeed has openly hinted that he will leave over the summer. Those two elements will make for an endless run of transfer speculation until the day that the Colombian finds a new club.

As for the links to Manchester? Frankly, given his mixture of technical elegance and maddening inconsistency, he'd fit right into either of those woefully underperforming clubs as they are right now. In that light, it's hard to see either Guardiola or new United boss Jose Mourinho willing to splash so much of their transfer budgets on a player whose chances of delivering the goods are distinctly ropey.