Real Madrid's pursuit of Tottenham Hotspur's Christian Eriksen has taken a fresh twist, with Los Blancos now understood to be keen to offer a part-exchange deal involving James Rodríguez - whose future at Bayern Munich remains unresolved - in a bid to lower Spurs chairman Daniel Levy's starting price in talks over the Dane.
Currently in his second season on loan from Madrid at Bayern, who have a 42-million-euro purchase option on the midfielder, James had a positive first year in Germany but has endured trickier times in Bavaria since Niko Kovac took over as coach in July. Under the Croat, he has made only 12 appearances in all competitions - playing the full 90 minutes just once - in a campaign that has in part been hampered by ankle issues and a knee-ligament injury. Nevertheless, the 27-year-old Colombian international's stock remains high throughout Europe, with his successful years at Porto and Monaco, and his impressive displays at the 2014 World Cup and in his first season at Madrid - 2014/15 - still fresh in the memory.
Indeed, he is also being linked with a host of other clubs thought to be interested in his services, such as Arsenal (whose coach, Unai Emery, is a huge admirer), Juventus (where ex-Madrid club-mate Cristiano Ronaldo is keen to link back up with both him and Marcelo) and, to a lesser extent, Napoli (he worked under Partenopei boss Carlo Ancelotti in his maiden season at the Bernabéu).

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