Colombia’s World Cup star James Rodriguez has been awarded the Goal of the Tournament in Brazil.
The 23-year-old’s last-16 volley against Uruguay received the majority of the votes, from over four million FIFA.com users, with Holland captain Robin van Persie‘s diving header against Spain coming second.
The announcement comes amid speculation that the 22-year-old Monaco forward will soon be on his way to Real Madrid.
The Colombia midfielder won the Golden Boot as the leading scorer at the World Cup and in the wake of his team’s exit from the tournament against Brazil, he said he would prefer to play for Madrid than Barcelona.
The Madrid-based newspaper Marca has claimed that the reigning European champions are expecting to complete the signing today, suggesting the club has already prepared a villa for Rodríguez to move into.
However, French newspaper L’Equipe believes that the fee to bring Rodríguez to the Bernabéu has not been agreed, with Monaco’s owner Dimitry Rybolovlev holding out for £67m and Madrid only prepared to offer £58m.
A number of players including Ángel di María, Pepe, Sami Khedira and the goalkeeper Diego López have been offered in part exchange for the Colombian, but all have turned down the opportunity of moving to the French principality.
