Rodriguez's most difficult challenge yet to come

Real Madrid are due to meet with Eibar on June 14 after three-months break, and James Rodriguez will start yet another challenge at the Spanish club, and possibly this time it will be his biggest yet.

You have to look back on October 19, 2019 when the Colombian played for the last time for the Los Blancos when they lost 1-0 at Son Moix.

Since then Rodriguez hasn't played a single minute for Real Madrid and if he does not start for the club when they meet Eibar it will be a half season with no games for the player.

10 out of 18 games James missed as he got an injury that kept him sidelined for a while, after he recovered Zidane kept the Colombian out of the matchday squad on four occasions and then Rodriguez watched on the bench four matches without participating.

It is no secret for anybody that the French manager does not prefer James Rodriguez and he even wanted him sold last summer, but the Atletico Madrid move failed.

Zidane gave the 28-year-old midfielder a chance to prove and let him play in couple of games, but after Real played against Mallorca, James was barely thought about.

Only Rodriguez and Alvaro Odriozola, who left on loan for the Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich, have not played a single match since October.

Rodriguez has the difficult task to prove himself in a team with players like Karim Benzema, Eden Hazard, Toni Kroos and Luka Modric and Isco.

In the friendly matches in the beginning of every season, Zidane showed what is his preferred front-three - Marco Asensio, Karim Benzema and Eden Hazard.

For a moment we thought that he will choose James to replace Asensio, who got injured in a match against Arsenal before the start of the season, but obviously Zidane chose to let Rodrygo Goes and Vinicius Junior play instead of the Colombian.

With the transfer market filled with uncertainty due to the coronavirus pandemic, Real Madrid will most definitely look to sell Rodriguez this summer.

James, who is about to turn 29 in July, just can't waste another season hoping to shine under Zidane's management and his only option is to look for a club where he could get enough play time.

Few months ago, the Colombian was linked with a move to the north London club Arsenal. The Gunners definitely need to reinforce their midfield area so James might turn out to be a great new addition.