It took Florentino Perez long enough, but the all powerful Real Madrid president has finally warmed up to the idea of signing Rodri from Manchester City. The world class Man City defensive midfielder had gone quiet after getting his best game back following a torn ACL, and that was largely pointed out as the reason why Florentino was not as keen on signing the 2024 Ballon d'Or winner despite Rodri's overt attempts in public to get Madrid to come for him with one year left on his contract.
After how dominant he was at the World Cup, turning Aurelien Tchouameni and Enzo Fernandez into mere traffic cones during the two biggest games of the entire tournament, he has become impossible to deny. Even players within the walls of the Valdebebas were questioning why the club was not granting Rodri's ultimate wish to come to the Santiago Bernabeu, but now they no longer have to question it at all.
But while Real Madrid are going all in for Rodri and Rodri is pushing as hard as possible to join them this summer, the mutual interest does not necessarily mean that a deal will be sealed in the summer 2026 transfer window. Because Rodri is still under contract at Manchester City, even if not for more than one year,
Rodri is not as easy to sign as everyone thinks
According to RMC Sport's Fabrice Hawkins, Manchester City are willing to keep Rodri until 2027 when his contract runs out and let him go for free rather than sell to Real Madrid, even though figures of 60 million euros have been floated for Rodri even with just one year left on his deal. Hawkins says that Man City's stance is that they do not want to sell at all.
While it does come across as very spiteful for Manchester City not to want to sell Rodri all of a sudden despite months of rumors and the player clearly wanting to go, Real Madrid and Manchester City are huge rivals in the Champions League these days. So selling Rodri to Madrid is giving Madrid a massive advantage in the competition, as Rodri was a huge reason why Man City won that treble and finally took home the Champions League to sandwich a possible second three peat for Madrid back in 2023.
Barring Rodri from his big dream and losing him for free just to spite him seems cruel, so Real Madrid will continue to work to try and get him now. Even if it costs more, it could be well worth it if Rodri wins them the Champions League again.
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