Real Madrid confirm signing of James Rodriguez

The Colombia international has agreed a six-year contract with Madrid and underwent his medical with the club on Tuesday morning. He will be presented on Tuesday evening.

Neither club have confirmed the fee for the 23-year-old, but reports suggest Madrid have paid in the region of 80 million euros (£63million), which would make Rodriguez the fourth most expensive transfer of all time after Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez.

A Real Madrid statement read: "Real Madrid have reached an agreement with Monaco for the transfer of James Rodriguez, who will join the club for the next six seasons.

"The player will be presented today, Tuesday 22 July, at 20:00 (Spanish time), in the Santiago Bernabeu's presidential box.

"Following that, James Rodriguez will take his first steps on the Santiago Bernabeu's pitch wearing the Real Madrid shirt and will attend the media in the press room."

Rodriguez was one of the revelations of the World Cup, scoring in each of Colombia's games as they reached the quarter-finals of the competition for the very first time, eventually losing 2-1 to hosts Brazil.

In total Rodriguez scored six goals at the World Cup to finish as the leading scorer - one clear of Thomas Mueller - while his stunning 25-yard volley against Uruguay was voted goal of the tournament on FIFA.com.

His signing comes less than a week after Madrid brought in another of the World Cup's star performers in Germany's Toni Kroos, who moved from Bayern Munich for a reported £24million.

It also means that, if the reported figure is correct, Madrid now boast three of the four most expensive signings in history, having spent a world-record £86million on Bale last summer and £80million on Ronaldo in 2009.

The Champions League winners would hold a clean sweep of the top three signings but for arch-rivals Barcelona, who splashed out a reported £75million on Liverpool striker Luis Suarez earlier this summer.

Rodriguez began his professional career with Colombian side Envigado before moving down to Argentinian club Banfield aged 17.

His performances for the Buenos Aires outfit attracted the attention of Porto, who signed him for £4million in 2010, and three years later he joined Monaco for £38.5million after helping the Portuguese side win a hat-trick of league titles and the 2011 Europa League.

Vincent Bregevin from Eurosport France for his thoughts on the transfer: “The €80m transfer fee seems to be bit expensive to us in France. €60m seems like it would have been a fairer price so I guess that the World Cup made about €20m difference. It is not crazy money given his quality though – James really is a top class player but the timing of the deal means Real have to pay the highest price. James had a difficult start in France but he ended up being the best individual player in Ligue 1 last season alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic at PSG. How Real Madrid can afford to sign him when they signed Gareth Bale last summer and have debts of around €500m? There doesn't seem to be any concern about Real Madrid getting into Financial Fair Play trouble. They seem to be above the law in football.”

Ignacio Ruiz from Eurosport Spain: “The fee is a galactico fee but James is not a galactico player yet because he has not won anything. Real are paying the same for James as Barca did for Suarez, the striker who could potentially score 40 goals per season. In footballing terms Real did not need him but this signing is typical Florentino Perez; he always signs a top player after a WC: Ronaldo Nazario 2002, Cannavaro 2006, Ozil and Khedira 2010.”

If Real Madrid do sign Keylor Navas from Levante to make it a hat-trick of star signings from the World Cup following the capture of Toni Kroos, here's how they could look next season:

4-2-3-1: Navas; Carvajal, Varane, Ramos, Marcelo; Kroos, Modrid; Bale, James, Ronaldo; Benzema.