Real Madrid Buys World Cup Star James Rodriguez, Has Now Spent $398 Million On Attacking Players

Real Madrid has purchased Colombian 23-year-old James Rodríguez from AS Monaco, the team announced on Tuesday.

The transfer fee is ~$101 million, according to the Spanish newspaper Marca.

It's a case of the rich getting richer. James will wear the famous No. 10 shirt, and will be the playmaker in attack behind the forward trio of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, and Karim Benzema.

Those four players alone cost the club nearly $400 million in transfer fees ($398 million, to be exact). For comparison, the average English Premier League team - the highest-spending league in the world - spent $60 million total on transfers in 2013/14.

Here's the transfer history of Real's new "big four:"

• Cristiano Ronaldo, 2009 - $127 million (from Manchester United)
• Karim Benzema, 2009 - $47 million (from Lyon)
• Gareth Bale, 2013 - $123 million (from Tottenham)
• James Rodriguez, 2014 - $101 million (from Monaco)

They also bought Bayern Munich's Toni Kroos for $35 million this summer.

Real won the Champions League and the Copa Del Rey last season. Expectations will be higher than that this year, and considering the money spent anything less than a La Liga title will be a disappointment.