How much Birmingham City nearly signed James Rodriguez for | OneFootball

Birmingham City came close to signing future Real Madrid and Bayern Munich star James Rodriguez in a bargain deal many years ago...

With promotion to the Championship now secured as the first major milestone of the Tom Wagner era, Birmingham City will undoubtedly intend on bringing world-class talent to the blue-and-white quarters of the Second City at some stage in the future.

Blues will need to reach the Premier League and establish themselves back in the top-flight before that can happen, of course, but the sky is very much the limit under the ambitious, lavish ownership of Knighthead Capital Management.

Following years of turmoil prior to Knighthead's takeover, Birmingham supporters have been all-too-eager to look forward rather than behind at the club's tricky recent history.

However, a tinge of frustration must surely remain at Blues' sensational near-miss for James Rodriguez all the way back in January 2008, midway through the club's promotion to the Premier League.

Birmingham City nearly signed James Rodriguez for just £3 million

According to agent and scout Barry McIntosh, who was working for Birmingham at the time, the West Midlands outfit came close to signing Rodriguez as a teenager, when he was still playing in his native Colombia with Envigado.

McIntosh claimed to have scouted the attacking midfielder in the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup before recommending him to then-Blues co-owner David Sullivan. It's said that Birmingham were close to signing Rodriguez for just £3 million, with a deal having been proposed under Alex McLeish in 2008.

However, the deal ultimately did not materialise owing to complications pertaining to a UK work permit, and Rodriguez soon moved across South America to sign for Argentine side Banfield before earning his gateway to European football with Porto two years later.

The rest, as they say, is history...

James Rodriguez's career took off after nearly joining Birmingham City

Birmingham must have surely rued their misfortune in the years after missing out on Rodriguez. The playmaker shone in Argentina to earn a move to Porto, and his career really took off following his move across the Atlantic.

Rodriguez hit double digits for league goals in two of his three seasons with Porto before sealing a blockbuster €45m switch to Monaco in the summer of 2013. His performances in France but, crucially, at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, where he scored six goals from just five matches for Colombia to win the tournament's Golden Ball, encouraged Real Madrid to secure his services in a reported deal worth up to £71 million just one year later.

The maverick playmaker was electric during his first season in the Spanish capital, registering 17 goals and 15 assists across all competitions.

His time in Spain was ultimately blighted by injuries, and stiff competition for places from the likes of Isco hardly helped, but he still left with two La Liga and two UEFA Champions League titles to his name after spending two of his final three campaigns away from the club on loan with Bayern Munich, where he won the Bundesliga twice.

Rodriguez has deviated towards a nomadic twilight of his career, taking in spells with Everton, Al-Rayyan, Olympiacos, Sao Paulo, Rayo Vallecano and Mexican outfit Leon, whom he joined in January.

Now 33, the prodigious midfielder has endured a difficult few years as his time in the game draws to a close, but there is little denying that he was a world-class operator in his pomp and Birmingham would have loved to enjoy the earlier years of his career - it's a shame they seemingly came so very close.