The Colombian has achieved regularity but his record of absences is necessarily worrying.
James Rodriguez
Photo: @OlympiacosFC
By:
Writing Footballred
February 06, 2023, 10:15 p.m. m.
The usual concern arrives: are there reasons to worry about the health of James Rodríguez? Unfortunately, with his track record, it seems inevitable.
The Colombian has reported discomfort at Olympiacos just when he has achieved great consistency, without major absences since October 18, 2022, when he debuted against Aris in the Greek Super League.
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In fact, until now only once was he not called up due to physical discomfort, although in reality he took advantage of it for his recovery since it was a Europa League match, a tournament that he could not play because he was not registered. Then he was not in the friendly in December, in the friendly round due to the break required by the World Cup in Qatar, and stop counting: he was always available.
Afterwards, he has been in 16 games, always starting when they have been League commitments and rotating for Cup matches, in an administration of the effort that has been recognized by critics as a great success by coach Míchel. In that transition he has given 5 assists and scored two goals, an important justification for the million-dollar investment that his hiring represented for the club, beyond the fact that he has arrived free of Al-Rayyan and the salary has been reduced by more than half, as unofficially claimed,
The data contrasts with the 8 official injuries that he reported in the full year he was at Everton and the at least four absences due to physical problems that Al-Rayyan from Qatar acknowledged, almost all lasting several weeks. In England it was more difficult to keep the veil over his physical situation, which has been constant since his years at Real Madrid.
James has recorded more than twenty injuries in his career, many of them related to the calf and the soleo issue that has tormented him. Now the discomfort that James reported to his coach is clear: “at halftime he told us that he had some discomfort in his biceps femoris and we preferred to protect him because he is an important player for us and we did not want to risk losing him for later,” he declared.
The hamstring would be a relatively new area in terms of discomfort and that’s good and bad because it’s unpredictable. The club wants to send a message of calm, but the ghost of injuries is neither new nor has it been an issue to minimize for James. Luckily there is no competition from the Colombian National Team in the short term and that can be a relief, since a new absence can be handled so as not to hinder his recovery. Everyone knows what they are exposed to by taking unnecessary risks.
