Paris Saint-Germain closing in on Manchester United target

Paris Saint-Germain have emerged as the new favourites to sign Real Madrid outcast James Rodriguez, reports France Football, via Football Italia.

A summer exit seems inevitable for Rodriguez after he was left out of Madrid's matchday squad for the Champions League final last weekend and Manchester United and Inter were thought to be the favourites to sign the midfielder.

Rodriguez has struggled to establish himself as a first-team regular under Zinedine Zidane and PSG are now pushing to bring the Colombia international to France ahead of their European rivals.

Madrid paid Monaco £63m for Rodriguez after the 2014 World Cup and are looking to recoup as much of that as possible, with PSG’s offer thought to be close to their valuation.

Rodriguez made 22 appearances in La Liga last season but only 13 of those came as a starter. However, the 25-year-old still managed to score eight goals and register six assists in that time.

Furthermore, in the last three La Liga campaigns only Lionel Messi (19) and Cristiano Ronaldo (13) have scored more goals from outside the box than Rodriguez (11).

For more stats on James Rodriguez, click here to visit his WhoScored player page