The Colombia midfielder, now 34 and playing for Minnesota United in Major League Soccer, made the disclosure in his Netflix documentary series, titled "James", which was released on 21 May.
The three-part production, directed by Simón Brand, covers his career from his Golden Boot-winning performance at the 2014 World Cup through his years at Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and beyond — timed to coincide with his participation in this summer's tournament in North America.
"Nobody knows this, but after Real Madrid I was going to sign for Manchester United," Rodríguez said in the documentary.
"Jorge Mendes said to me: 'Do you want to go to Bayern?' And I said: 'Where am I going to play? There's Ribéry, Robben…' He said: 'Carlo has asked for you.' Carlo called me, and I said: 'I think I'm going to go to Manchester.' And he replied: 'What Manchester? Manchester is dead. You have to come here with me.' I think it was a good decision to go to Bayern Munich."
Rodríguez also spoke candidly about his two seasons in Germany. The first went well, largely because of a language he already understood.
"In my first year in Germany I was lucky because Carlo Ancelotti and Jupp Heynckes spoke Spanish."
Ancelotti was sacked in September 2017 after a 3-0 Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, with Heynckes returning as interim manager and guiding the club to the Bundesliga title.
The second season brought Niko Kovač and a relationship that never worked.
"Every manager has his favourites, and I wasn't one of his," Rodríguez said. "He wanted the players to do 30 minutes of cycling after training. I said: 'What am I training for? Am I going to the Tour de France or something? I'm a footballer.'"
The German language classes were no help either. Rodríguez admitted he kept falling asleep in lessons and ultimately told his tutor: "I don't want to learn."
On his time at Real Madrid under Zinedine Zidane, the frustration was quieter but ran deeper.
"With Zidane I trained well. When I played, I did things well. I scored goals, I gave assists. And when the important matches came, I wasn't starting. I was frustrated — what more can I do? In the papers it was all criticism, because they would show me on the bench looking angry. That created a toxic atmosphere. From the beginning, he had his 12 or 13 players. I never had a personal problem with him. I just wanted to play, and it's fair enough — he won titles."
Colombia open their 2026 World Cup campaign against Uzbekistan on 17 June.