Barcelona's Bid for Rodri Rejected by Manchester City
Barcelona’s opening move for Rodri has landed with a thud in Manchester.
The Catalan club have seen a £38.6 million bid for the Manchester City midfielder rejected, with the Premier League champions holding firm at a valuation closer to £68.5m. For City, the gap is not a starting point. It is a non-starter.
Club sources believe Barcelona’s proposal is so far below their price that there is no reason to even begin serious negotiations. Not yet.
Barcelona push, City hold
Barcelona are not expected to walk away. A second offer is being prepared for the former Atletico Madrid anchor, a player they view as the cornerstone of their next midfield.
Rodri, now 30 and a World Cup and Ballon d’Or winner, is understood to favour a move to Barcelona over any other destination. Real Madrid have also been credited with strong interest and had grown confident of striking a deal, especially with only a year left on the Spaniard’s City contract.
That confidence has been rattled. Once Barcelona stepped into the race, the landscape shifted.
Rodri has spoken before about his desire to return to La Liga at some stage of his career. With Pep Guardiola’s departure triggering a period of upheaval at City, the timing feels significant. The midfielder is keen to move on this summer and sees this as the window to do it.
A hole in Barcelona’s midfield
Barcelona’s need is acute. Frenkie De Jong, the metronome of their midfield, is out long term after tearing the medial collateral ligament in his right knee in July. He is expected to miss the start of the 2026/27 season.
Rodri is the chosen solution. The plan is clear: drop him at the base of midfield, hand him the keys, and rebuild the structure around his passing and positional authority.
The Spaniard underwent minor back surgery after the World Cup, a detail that might have complicated interest from some clubs. Barcelona are undeterred. He is expected to return before the end of the month, and they see no reason to delay.
City’s reshaped engine room
City, for their part, are not negotiating from weakness. The champions have already moved to remodel their midfield, completing a £116m deal for Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest.
They are also heavily linked with Lille’s Ayyoub Bouaddi, who caught the eye with Morocco at the World Cup. The message is clear: even as they resist losing their current midfield general, they are already plotting the next version of their engine room.
So the standoff begins. Barcelona pushing from a position of need, Rodri open to the return home he has long imagined, Real Madrid lurking, and Manchester City insisting that if their midfield pillar is to leave, it will only be on their terms.
The next bid from Barcelona will tell everyone just how badly they want him.
