Rodriguez has had an underwhelming second season in the Spanish capital following his 80 million euros ($89.7 million)move to Madrid from Monaco in 2014.
Rodriguez put his domestic woes aside to inspire Colombia to a last-gasp 3-2 win at Bolivia in a World Cup qualifier last week, opening the scoring and laying on a pass for Carlos Bacca to get the second.
“James doesn’t try harder for Colombia than Real Madrid, but here in Colombia he is given the true importance that a player of his character needs to perform,” Asprilla, the former Newcastle United and Parma forward, was quoted as saying by Spanish newspaper Marca.
“He is a very young boy with an awful lot of talent but James hasn’t been given the support he needs by his club. When he had that support from (Carlo) Ancelotti he showed his true value.
"This season he hasn’t been able to prove anything because they haven’t given him the special treatment every player needs from their club.”
Rodriguez scored 17 times in 43 appearances in his first season in Spain under Ancelotti, but the 24-year-old has made only 13 league starts this campaign due to a combination of a thigh injury and falling out of favour with coaches Rafael Benitez and his successor Zinedine Zidane.
The Frenchman has left him out of the starting line-up for Real’s last four matches.
Asprilla, his country's third all-time leading scorer with 20 goals, also believes Benitez had a problem with Colombian players.
“I sincerely believe that Benitez must have something against Colombians, because it’s the only way to explain his attitude towards my compatriots,” he added.
“James had just had an exceptional campaign in his first year with the club, then this man turns up and puts him on the bench."
(Reporting by Richard Martin, editying by Ed Osmond)
Share
