The Canadian footballer, who not long ago was considered one of the great promises of Real Madrid, has played less than half an hour with his latest team.
Jesé Rodríguez is not having his best sporting moment: The Canadian footballer, who not long ago was considered one of the great jewels of national football , has fallen by the wayside of becoming the great star he was aiming for and, in fact, is having fewer and fewer opportunities on the pitch . Europe already seems far away for him but, in addition, his performance in Malaysia is beginning to be called into question , where not even the country’s royalty can help him take off.
Any team would sign with their eyes closed a player who has won two Champions Leagues in his career , but the problem with Jesé is that he is not capable of delivering on the expectations that were placed on him. That serious knee injury changed his football forever and that electric, unbalanced player with a lot of goals changed diametrically. That, together with decisions that have not helped him, caused his flame to go out.
Jesé currently plays for Johor Darul Ta’zim in the Malaysia Super League , but he is not having much influence in the team. Not only has he been left out of the squad on several occasions, but so far this season he has only played 26 minutes . The career of the Canadian footballer is going downhill irremediably and the footballer who dreamed of being the great star of Real Madrid has fallen by the wayside.
It was a few months ago when the Johor DT decided to bet on him. The reason? The club is owned by Ibrahim Ismail , a member of the royal family, the eldest son of the Sultan and Crown Prince, who is a great football lover and was looking for a great figure to revitalize his team . That is where he decided to bet on the signing of Jesé, but the Spaniard is not able to take off with the passing of the games. Not even the bet of the Sultan’s eldest son manages to rekindle his fire on the pitch.
Formed in the white youth academy, Jesé was set to be one of the star players of the Madrid team . He was the undisputed leader of that Castilla that was promoted to Second Division, where numerous players have reached First Division: Dani Carvajal, Luchas Vázquez, Nacho Fernández, Álvaro Morata or Joselu Mato are some of the greatest exponents. And, despite all the individual and collective successes and achievements of all of them, the one who was touched by a special magic wand was Jesé.
He could score, dribble, be unbalanced and had the ability to overcome unique defences. So much so that he was nicknamed El Bichito ( The Bug) , as the clear successor in the first team to none other than Cristiano Ronaldo . But on a sad 18th of March 2014 , a serious tackle by Sead Kolasinac (Schalke 04) on the Canary Islander ended with the total rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee . And, from there, his career never returned to what it was… or what was expected.
He signed for PSG , but his career was peppered with loan spells: he wore the shirts of Las Palmas, Stoke City, Betis and Sporting de Portugal , but only played on a minor basis. He experienced a sporting upturn again at Las Palmas , but this time in Segunda, where he did have continuity and got a lot of minutes. But he only played for two seasons, before beginning a journey across the world : Ankaragucu (Turkey), Sampdoria (Italy), Curitiba (Brazil) and, finally, Johor DT (Malaysia).
In his last four seasons, he has only played 33 games , in which he has scored 7 goals and provided 3 assists, very poor figures for a player who was expected to set the pace on the pitch. That injury changed him forever, but combined with off-field problems and some bad decisions, his career never took off as expected. Now, with 26 minutes in Malaysia, the player who was destined to succeed is fading away irremediably .