Jamalio Danubio DiCanio
Player Valuation: £950k
He is probably getting a big pay off from Madrid, that's why his fee that was reported a few weeks ago has changed from €8m to €25m, so James is gonna get a big part of that €25m and will therefore take a pay cut for his new contract
Agree that this is the most likely thing happening in the background if Rodriguez looks like he is apparently taking a hefty pay-cut to make the deal happen. It's logical too since Real want him off the wage bill.
The other explanation is that either the salary reported is post tax or it is heavily incentivised and it's just the base salary quoted.
Real giving him a pay off or a heavily incentivised contract would obviously be the best outcomes