Hansi Flick's Barcelona has already closed the arrival of its fourth reinforcement with a view to the 2026-27 season: Rodri. Finally, the Barça club and Manchester City have reached an agreement for the transfer of the midfielder, one of the great keys to La Roja's second world championship, won this summer in the United States, and winner of the Ballon d'Or in 2024.
The attitude of the footballer himself, who has insisted a lot on the operation coming to fruition once the German coach's project for a new season that is getting closer to starting was put on the table, has ultimately been decisive for the signing to have reached the point that both the player and the entity chaired by Joan Laporta desired.
The first proposal that Barça presented to Manchester City, last Friday, fell on deaf ears. Although the citizen entity was very aware that the player would end his commitment on June 30 of next year, the 45 million euros to which up to five more could be added in variables that the Barça club put on the dough was very far from their initial demands.
The second proposal that Barça put on the table was not to his liking either. In the end, the Barcelona club, given that the season officially starts next week with the second league match, which the Blaugrana will play against Elche at the Martínez Valero next Sunday, has had to decisively get closer to the figures that the English club demanded.
Close to City's claims
In total, although the exact amount has not been revealed, the Barça community indicates that the amount of the operation would amount to around 75 million, meaning that the income for the Sky Blue team's coffers would be very close to the 80 million euros that they intended to obtain with its sale.
The player, in this case, will sign a contract for four seasons, until June 30, 2030, for which he will receive an annual fee of around 15 million euros. His incorporation, already confirmed, is the fourth of a summer that has been busier in this sense compared to the last two years.
In the summer of 2024, only Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor arrived. Last year, meanwhile, Joan Garcia, Roony Bardghji, now pending his departure from the entity, and Marcus Rashford, on loan, did so. This year, however, Rodri joins the additions of the Englishman Anthony Gordon, the German Karim Adeyemi and the Belgian Jesse Bisiwu, who will initially have a reserve team record but will be part of the first team.
Both the German and the Belgian made their debut as Barcelona scorers in the friendly in which Flick's team beat Basel (2-5). Adeyemi opened the scoring and Bisiwu scored two more goals in the second half, while the Egyptian Hamza Abdelkarim and Lamine Yamal, from a penalty, completed the rout.
