Rodri’s Real Madrid deal fades as Barcelona move becomes imminent, says Spanish journalist

Rodri’s proposed move from Manchester City to Real Madrid has collapsed and the Spain international is expected to join Barcelona within the coming hours or days, according to Spanish journalist Nacho Pena.

Pena believes the transfer would not have failed if Real Madrid had truly made the midfielder a priority. Although the Spanish club wanted Rodri and held talks with him, he says they ultimately stopped short of doing everything necessary to complete the deal.

The journalist, whose comments were published by Defensa Central, said both Real Madrid and Rodri lacked complete certainty that they wanted to pursue the move to its conclusion.

“After listening to the arguments, and to the information being leaked by Real Madrid and Rodri’s camp, I reached the conclusion that neither side fought until the very end,” Pena said.

Real Madrid had reportedly secured Rodri’s approval for the transfer and reached an agreement with him over a four-year contract worth an annual salary of 15m euros. Pena added that the figure was said to be exactly the same as the amount offered by Barcelona.

However, Real Madrid’s attention was divided by several other negotiations. The club began working on a deal for Diomande and completed the signing of Espi, while the discussions over Rodri appeared to move more slowly.

Pena suggested that the delay may have frustrated the Manchester City player.

“Real Madrid were not prepared to sign Rodri until the very end, and Rodri was not prepared to go to Real Madrid until the very end, no matter how much they tried to promote the idea that he was saying yes, Madrid, Madrid, and that he wanted only Real Madrid,” he added.

He said Real Madrid would have moved decisively if the club had considered Rodri’s arrival an essential signing.

“If Real Madrid had gone into killer mode, they would not have allowed the player to be snatched away and would have signed him quickly, but Real Madrid did not treat the Rodri deal as a top priority, even though they had obtained the player’s approval,” Pena said.

The journalist acknowledged that Real Madrid had taken several steps towards completing the transfer, including speaking directly with Rodri and securing his agreement in principle. But he argued that the club’s failure to maintain the same level of urgency ultimately allowed Barcelona to move into a stronger position.

“It is true that Real Madrid took a series of steps, spoke to the player and had the player’s approval. They reached an agreement on a four-year contract with an annual salary of 15m euros, and it is said that this was exactly the same amount offered by Barcelona. But everything began to slow down because Real Madrid were working on several deals at the same time. They started working on the Diomande deal and signed Espi, and it seems the process began to take a little longer. Perhaps that was what annoyed Rodri,” he concluded.

The situation now places Barcelona in pole position to sign the Spain international, with the move expected to be completed in the near future.