James Rodriguez confirms he is STAYING at Bayern Munich

The buildup to the friendly match between Bayern Munich and Manchester City in Miami, Florida just got a little bit sweeter. In a press conference earlier, James Rodriguez confirmed that he is going to stay with Bayern Munich amidst speculation that he might be interested in returning to Real Madrid. In recent weeks, it’s been reported that the Colombian ace wished for a return to the Spanish capital to re-join the club he’s on loan from, but he’s all but ended those rumors, at least for now.

Earlier this week, club CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge confirmed that both James and Thiago Alcantara would be staying with the club this season, but hearing it from the Colombian himself is the icing on the cake.

James revealed that he’s quite happy at Bayern when making the announcement (via FCBayern’s English Twitter account):

I know there are a lot of rumours, but I am happy in Munich and I am only thinking about Bayern Munich. When I think about my first year with Bayern, I am very happy, but I want to win more titles this year and show myself to be an important member of this team.

After experiencing quite the resurgence under Jupp Heynckes last season, James finished the campaign with a total of 8 goals and 14 assists from 39 appearances across all competitions. He was slightly unfortunate due to a calf injury not to have played as much of a part in the World Cup for Colombia as he would’ve liked to, but he was good for them when he was involved, providing two sublime assists in their 3-0 win over [Bayern] teammate Robert Lewandowski and Poland.

Hopefully for Bayern and James, the 27-year old can pick up where he left off with Heynckes under new manager Niko Kovac, who’ll almost certainly have James in the starting eleven on a routine basis.