According to Radio Estadio Noche, José Mourinho believes that it would be a failure if Real Madrid were to miss out on Rodri this summer transfer window, and even more so if the Spaniard ends up going to Barcelona instead.
It is a deal that has been talked about for the last couple of months.
At the start, it was Rodri who really wanted to join Real Madrid, despite the club not really showing an interest in signing him. Then it was Enrique Riquelme proposing that the Spaniard would become a Real Madrid player if he became the president of the club.
A few weeks later, Real Madrid finally decided that they should actually go for Rodri, despite Riquelme's links with the player, because of the quality he brings to the table and how important his profile is to any club.
Real Madrid desperately need Rodri, and not signing him after everything is a failure
Real Madrid have been struggling for that sort of profile since Toni Kroos retired in 2024, and now it is at a point where, if they don't sign Rodri, they will end up not really improving their midfield, even though it was the weakest area of the team.
Real Madrid's midfield looks really weak, and Mourinho probably knows that, which is why he thinks it would be a failure if Real Madrid failed to sign him.
It's not just about Real Madrid missing out on Rodri. It's also about how long he's wanted to play for the club, and despite that, the club never actually acted on it. They waited too long, prolonged the process for no real reason, and now they are paying the price for it.
Barcelona are fully interested, and Rodri might be convinced to join the Catalan club instead of a transfer that should have been completed weeks ago.
We all know how quickly Real Madrid can act if they really want to. It just wasn't done, and they are now going to struggle without the Spaniard's presence if he ends up going to Barcelona.
That is not the only issue. Barcelona would also improve significantly if they had Rodri in their midfield instead of Marc Bernal.
The good news is that Real Madrid are still in the race, according to Fabrizio Romano, so it is not completely out of the question that the player ends up at the club next season.
But it is less likely now than it was a week ago, and had Real Madrid fully realised how important Rodri would be to this team, they would have finished this deal long before they even thought about Jan Diomande.
Add us as a preferred source on Google