Barcelona\u2019s pursuit of Rodri looks set to do more than strengthen Hansi Flick\u2019s midfield. It may also trigger a chain reaction across the market, with several squad players now facing uncertain futures.<\/p>\n
The club already has six midfielders on its books, and the expectation is that the unit will remain largely fixed for years to come. That makes movement elsewhere almost unavoidable. One immediate consequence appears to be the exit of 19-year-old Tommy Marqu\u00e9s, who, according to The Athletic, is set to join Braga in a deal worth $14 million (\u20ac12 million). His wish to leave is being driven largely by the lack of minutes that would come with Rodri in the squad.<\/p>\n
Marc Casad\u00f3 is another player expected to move on. The 22-year-old\u2019s future has been under discussion for some time, and Fabrizio Romano states that matters will now accelerate after Barcelona agreed to sign Rodri. Right back H\u00e9ctor Fort is also expected to depart, although there is still a feeling that one bigger name could be moved out too.<\/p>\n
The reason is straightforward: Barcelona do not have the financial room to simply keep adding players. The issue is not the transfer fee itself but La Liga\u2019s wage cap. Rodri\u2019s salary will make registration of other signings difficult, so departures are required to create space.<\/p>\n
That space is being sought with a larger target in mind. Barcelona want to move on salaries in order to complete a deal for Atl\u00e9tico Madrid striker Juli\u00e1n Alvarez. The fee and wages would be significant, and with only two weeks left in the window, the club may have to impose a deadline before turning to an alternative striker. Sporting CP\u2019s Luis Su\u00e1rez and Hoffenheim\u2019s Fisnik Asllani are among the names mentioned.<\/p>\n
Rodri\u2019s exit also leaves Man City with a major gap in midfield, something that was already evident before their Community Shield defeat to Arsenal. With Tijjani Reijnders also set to leave for Al Qadsiah, City could return to the market, with Lille\u2019s Ayyoub Bouaddi emerging as a leading candidate. Interest in Chelsea\u2019s Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez is also active, and if City go that route, Chelsea may then be pushed into the market themselves.<\/p>\n
As Enzo Maresca put it: \u201cWe knew already before the game the things we needed to do,\u201d and \u201cFor sure, we are going to do something before the transfer [window] closes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Rodri\u2019s Barcelona move could force exits, new targets and further transfer movement at City and Chelsea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1017,190,1056,1397],"tags":[59,180,182],"class_list":["post-18549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-barcelona","category-chelsea","category-man-city","category-transfer-news","tag-featured","tag-player-news","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18549","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=18549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}