As Fabrizio Romano continues to reassure Real Madrid fans that the Yan Diomande transfer is done whlie the club has landed another talented young attacker in Carlos Espi to replace Gonzalo Garcia's spot in the squad, Los Blancos are driving harder after Manchester City star Rodri.
After Florentino Perez finally gave the green light to Jose Mourinho and the other executives at the Valdebebas to pursue a Ballon d'Or winner who effectively pledged his allegiance to the Merengues all the way back in March, Real Madrid are realizing that signing Rodri isn't as simple as they thought landing a 30 year old player on an expiring contract who openly pines for them would be.
Manchester City have used the media to float around two ideas. The first is opening the door for Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, and even a scorned PSG to sign him, and the second is simply keeping Rodri for another season rather than selling him to a Champions League rival that just knocked them out again in 2026.
Manchester City have a threat to wield over Real Madrid
New Man City manager Enzo Maresca seems a lot less willing to part ways with players who want to leave than many thought he would be - and less willing than Pep Guardiola was - and while Real Madrid fans would honestly expect nothing else, it was still telling to hear him speak as though he is planning fully on Rodri being at the Etihad next season.
Maresca told the press, via Fabrizio Romano, “It's very important. Any manager in the world wants Rodri because he's a top player; so it's important for me, the club and for everyone. But now, he needs his holiday - that's very important when we start to play every three days...”
He isn't even pretending to address the Real Madrid transfer rumors here, but, again, Madridistas would not expect Enzo Maresca to even imply that Rodri is going. Any manager would want a top, top player who can win big games on his own through controlling the entire pitch to stay, and after barely losing the Premier League title to Arsenal last season, Manchester City are hungry to get back to the pedestal again. And losing Rodri would be a huge way to lose more power in a league where Arsenal won by, again, controlling the play through Declan Rice and the midfield.
Real Madrid have lost control without Toni Kroos and have won no trophies since the German's retirement, so signing Rodri has become an essential task for them, even at a price above 50 million euros for a player they could easily sign for free. And that's because Maresca and Man City are smartly playing the leverage that they could just keep Rodri and help doom Real Madrid to another season with no trophies, even under Jose Mourinho.
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