James' future is between Madrid and Atletico Real Madrid Priority is to stay in the capital

For much of the last few months, James Rodriguez's exit from Real Madrid seemed like a formality.

Now, however, there is a real chance that he'll form part of Zinedine Zidane's squad for the new season.

The Colombian returned to train at Valdebebas on Monday two years after leaving to join Bayern Munich on loan.

James would like to stay in Madrid, but he's weighing up whether to stay at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu or move across town to Atletico Madrid.

James knows that he won't have a key role to play under Zidane at Real Madrid and therefore the idea of becoming a regular at Atletico is an attractive one for him.

However, the injury to Marco Asensio and the 7-3 defeat to Atletico have seen the situation shift again for the midfielder.

In the absence of Asensio, James would be able to play in an advanced role and fits the requirements for that position perfectly.

With money still to make back from their heavy spending in this transfer window, Real Madrid could be tempted to sell James, but it would come at great cost in a popularity sense.

The Colombian is a player that can decide a game against any opponent and almost did it to Real Madrid in 2018 with Bayern.

All these factors make James' situation a lot more complicated that it was originally thought and, if Real Madrid decide to keep him, he'll have to win over Zidane.

If Los Blancos choose to sell him, he'd be more than happy to move to Atletico Madrid. All James wants to do is stay in the Spanish capital.