Another player who has exploded onto the world scene over the past 12 months is James Rodriguez. A Golden Boot-winning string of performances at this summer's World Cup have ensured the 23-year-old has taken centre stage recently but you could make the case that Real Madrid's new signing is somewhat overrated. Yes, Rodriguez enjoyed a fantastic World Cup. He averaged a goal once every 67 minutes at the finals in Brazil, finishing as the tournaments leading marksman with six goals and two assists. As such, Real paid a reported 80 million for his services when they signed him from Monaco this summer. However, at Monaco, Rodriguez was something of a disappointment during his one and only season in France in 2013-14, failing to hit double figures in Ligue 1 after mustering up just nine goals. And it's only because of his unexpected performances at the World Cup, along with the inflated fee Madrid have just signed him for that have prompted EA to reportedly boost his score in FIFA 15 to 86 from 83 in last years iteration, which we feel is a knee-jerk reaction considering the South American has only recently started to turn it on at the highest levels of the game.
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
