James is invisible to Zidane at Real Madrid

James Rodriguez has become invisible at Real Madrid.

Since Zinedine Zidane subbed him off at half-time of the Copa del Rey defeat against Real Sociedad, nobody is quite sure what has happened to him.

When the Frenchman replaced Toni Kroos and Isco at the end of the first half in the Madrid derby, Zidane provided detailed explanations for their substitutions.

Zidane even took responsibility for their below-par performances and expressed regret for having to haul them off.

Yet against La Real, there was no such explanation for bringing on Luka Modric for James. It is assumed that it was for tactical reasons, but there are also those who say that the Colombian took a strong blow to the hip.

It may be true that James was seen suffering in the opening minutes, but nobody has yet to clarify anything about a potential injury.

James didn't train in any of the two sessions after that game, neither Friday nor Saturday, but there was no medical announcement from the club despite mentioning other players who are on leave due to injury.

Moreover, the club only referred only to Mariano Diaz and Marco Asensio as those who stayed in the gym. On James, there is still nothing.

Worse still was on Saturday, when Zidane gave a press conference at Valdebebas. Journalists asked about Gareth Bale, Marcelo, Casemiro and Vinicius but nobody enquired about James.

It is as if he has become invisible at Real Madrid, which is a bad sign.

It would've been preferable if at least some form of information was released about James' situation.

However, this has reflected James' season at Real Madrid, a horrible campaign which has seen him move even closer to the exit door. This time, there is no other way out.