James Rodriguez to Manchester United: Chelsea target set to stay at Real Madrid, says Zinedine Zidane

The 25-year-old joined Los Blancos in 2014 and has scored 21 goals in 58 appearances for the 32-time Spanish champion

James Rodriguez has enjoyed strong success at Madrid (Getty)

Zinedine Zidane insists James Rodríguez is “important to the team” despite continuing speculation that the Columbian could be offloaded to one of Chelsea or Manchester United next summer.

The 25-year-old joined Real Madrid in 2014 and has scored 21 goals in 58 appearances for the 32-time Spanish champions since, but Zidane has utilised him as an impact player from the bench in recent months at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Rodríguez was subject to tentative interest from Chelsea manager Antonio Conte this summer while United, under the rule of former Madrid boss Jose Mourinho, were also said to be interested in making a move for the £60m-rated midfielder.

But Zidane has moved to quash such speculation despite being unable to promise the former Monaco playmaker of a staring place if Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema are all fit to play.

“I’ve said two or three times that he’s training very well and James is going to play, he’s important for the team,” Zidane said.

“I see him to be very well, the same as last season. I won’t say he’s any different. He just wants to play like everyone else and is going to offer us what he has.

“If Cristiano [Ronaldo], Karim [Benzema] and Gareth [Bale] are at 100 percent, the idea is to play them.

“If they’re all available, I’ll play all three, but we don’t have just one game and I have the possibility of playing others, and when they play, they do so well.”