James Rodriguez's two-year loan move to Bayern Munich caught just about all of us by surprise earlier this week.The Colombian had been heavily linked with an exit from the Bernabeu throughout the summer but Carlo Ancelotti used his previous ties with Madrid to swoop and push through a brilliant deal.As well as securing the services of Rodriguez for the next two years, the German champions have the option to purchase him permanently for €30 million.It wasn't even that long ago when the Premier League looked like his most likely destination - more specifically Manchester United.Following Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic's departures, Jose Mourinho has been keen to strengthen his attacking options and Rodriguez looked like a natural fit on paper.And according to Duncan Castles, discussions over a potential Old Trafford switch did, in fact, take place before the Munich move came to fruition.Writing for Yahoo, Castles has revealed Mourinho and co. had the opportunity to sign the 26-year-old 'on more than one occasion' but opted against it based on the United manager's judgement.The former Real Madrid boss expressed his doubts over Rodriguez's capability to immediately adapt to the Premier League both mentally and physically.
Rodriguez, a star of the 2014 World Cup, may have had limited opportunities in the first team since joining Madrid but he has also missed at least 10 games in each of the last three seasons through injury - a stat which undoubtedly contributed to Mourinho's snub.
Despite missing out on the new Bayern signing, Mourinho has still been able to boost his attacking options through the recent arrival of Romelu Lukaku.
Nevertheless, there will be some United supporters who will be disappointed their club passed up on the opportunity to see Rodriguez strutting his stuff at Old Trafford next term.