Manchester City Reject Barcelona's £38.5m Rodri Bid
Manchester City have turned down Barcelona’s first move for Rodri, rejecting a £38.5m offer as the European champions dig in over the future of their Ballon d’Or-winning midfielder.
City are prepared to sell, but not on the cheap. Their stance is clear: it will take in excess of £60m to prise the 30-year-old out of the Etihad in the final year of his contract.
Rodri’s deal runs down next summer. No extension is signed. No agreement is close. For a player who has sat at the heart of Pep Guardiola’s dominance, that uncertainty has turned into one of the defining stories of this window.
Barcelona step in as Real Madrid walk away
For months, the script seemed written. Rodri to Real Madrid after conquering the world with Spain. An “irresistible” offer on the table, as his agent Pablo Barquero told Spanish radio network Cadena Ser. Florentino Perez and Jose Angel Sanchez personally involved. Courteous, serious, relentless.
Talks began just days after Rodri had lifted the World Cup and the Golden Ball as player of the tournament, driving Spain to a second world title and confirming his status as the game’s premier midfielder.
Real Madrid, according to Cadena Ser, put everything on the table. The money. The project. The prestige. For two weeks the conversations were positive, respectful, intense.
Then the twist.
Rodri chose another path. On Friday, Real were informed that he had decided to accept a different offer. Madrid, unwilling to drag out a losing battle, shut down negotiations and thanked the player’s camp for the way the talks had been handled.
The door that once looked wide open at the Bernabeu has closed. The spotlight now burns on Barcelona.
Barca’s move and City’s price
Barcelona had initially played down expectations. Club sources told BBC Sport there were no guarantees a deal would get done. Financial realities still bite at Camp Nou, and City are not in the habit of giving away world-class midfielders.
But the mood shifted this week.
On Thursday, sources told BBC Sport that Barcelona had secured Rodri’s approval to open formal negotiations with City. On Friday, the Catalan club moved. Conversations with the player’s representatives were already under way; the first bid went in soon after.
City’s answer was swift: £38.5m is nowhere near enough.
The Premier League champions know they are dealing from a position of both strength and risk. Strength, because Rodri remains one of the most influential players in world football when fit. Risk, because he can walk away for nothing in 12 months.
That tension will define the coming days. City want clarity, and they want it quickly.
A superstar between injuries and glory
Rodri’s last two club seasons have been punctured by physical setbacks. A serious knee injury wiped out much of his 2024-25 campaign. A hamstring issue disrupted parts of the previous year. For most players, that would have dulled the shine.
He answered at the World Cup.
In the summer, he returned to peak form on the biggest stage, anchoring Spain’s run to their second world crown and taking home the Ballon d’Or and player of the tournament honours. Any doubts about his level disappeared in a month of commanding performances.
Right now, he is sidelined again, recovering from back surgery undergone last month. The plan is simple: rejoin his City team-mates in Manchester early next week and assess the next step in person.
Will that step be towards a new contract, a reluctant farewell, or a standoff that drags on into the season?
City’s next move and the Bouaddi question
Time is not on City’s side. The window is already heading into its second week of August, and Guardiola’s side cannot afford to lose their midfield anchor without a clear succession plan.
Work has started on that front. Talks are under way to sign 18-year-old Morocco midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille. The teenager is highly rated, but Lille’s £86m asking price has become an immediate stumbling block.
For now, Bouaddi is a target, not a solution. City will not move decisively there until Rodri’s future is settled. The size of any incoming fee, the timing of his departure, the wage space created – all of it feeds into what they can realistically do in midfield.
So the clock ticks.
Barcelona have made their opening move and know exactly where City’s red line lies. Real Madrid have stepped aside. Rodri, a World Cup winner and Ballon d’Or holder, stands at the centre of it all, weighing up the final prime years of his career.
Does he stay and cement a legacy in Manchester, or trade sky blue for the pressure and romance of Camp Nou?
