Real Madrid have stepped up their pursuit of Rodri, with reports saying club-to-club talks have now begun with Manchester City.<\/p>\n
The move would mark a clear shift in position. Earlier in the window, it was understood that Florentino P\u00e9rez did not want to move for the midfielder. That stance appears to have changed, with Fabrizio Romano reporting that Madrid have made an official approach and that \u201cverbal discussions\u201d are underway.<\/p>\n
Madrid\u2019s summer business has already been extensive. Marc Cucurella, Bernardo Silva, Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 and Denzel Dumfries have all arrived, while RB Leipzig wonderkid Yan Diomande is set to join for more than $100 million. Even so, central midfield remained an area to address, with the club seeking a deep-lying controller, a role largely absent at the Bernab\u00e9u since Toni Kroos\u2019s exit in 2024.<\/p>\n
Rodri has emerged as the obvious candidate. P\u00e9rez is said to have approved the deal, and Madrid are prepared to go beyond \u20ac50 million ($57 million) for a player who has only one year left on his contract in England.<\/p>\n
The Spain captain\u2019s name had featured prominently in the campaign of rival presidential candidate Enrique Riquelme, who said he would refund all membership fees if he failed to sign both Rodri and Erling Haaland. P\u00e9rez, by contrast, had seemed reluctant to engage, despite the appeal of a Madrid-born midfielder who fits a specific need.<\/p>\n
Rodri\u2019s stock rose further at the 2026 World Cup, where he broke passing records and won the Golden Ball as Spain triumphed in North America. Recent reports suggest P\u00e9rez is now open to the transfer, with the balance of the window and City\u2019s contract position adding pressure to any decision.<\/p>\n
With Pep Guardiola also bringing an end to his time at Manchester City this summer, Rodri may see the moment as a natural one to move. If he does not sign the extension currently available, City\u2019s only chances to recover a fee are this window or January.<\/p>\n
Rodri has previously spoken warmly about Madrid, telling Cadena SER in 2024: \u201cWhen Real Madrid call you, the best club in history, the most successful, everything that means … Obviously, it\u2019s an honour and you always have to pay attention, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Madrid have changed their stance on Rodri, with talks now under way over a summer move.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18104,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1814],"tags":[1754,988],"class_list":["post-18105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-manchester-city-news","tag-2026-27-fixtures","tag-bernardo-silva"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}