Manchester City Reject Barcelona's £38.5m Bid for Rodri
Manchester City have turned down an opening £38.5m offer from Barcelona for Rodri, setting the stage for one of the summer’s most delicate transfer sagas.
City are prepared to let the 30-year-old leave, but not on the cheap. The Premier League champions value the Spain midfielder at more than £60m, a figure that reflects his influence under Pep Guardiola despite a bruising, injury-hit year.
Rodri is entering the final 12 months of his contract at Etihad Stadium and has yet to agree an extension. That ticking clock has fuelled weeks of speculation over his next move, with Real Madrid initially viewed as the likeliest destination.
That picture has shifted.
Barcelona, armed with the player’s approval to open talks with City, have moved to the front of the queue. Sources told BBC Sport that the Catalan club made their first formal offer on Friday, only for City to reject it. The message from Manchester is clear: if Rodri goes, he goes on their terms.
Inside Barça, there had been caution. Club sources had stressed there were no guarantees a deal could be struck given the financial gymnastics required at Camp Nou. Yet the situation has started to gather pace. Negotiations with the player’s camp are described as ongoing, and the club followed those conversations by submitting that initial bid.
On the other side of Spain, the door appears to have closed. BBC sources say talks with Real Madrid have now ended, leaving Barcelona as the leading contender if City decide to cash in.
Rodri’s recent journey only adds layers to the story.
He missed much of the 2024-25 campaign with a serious knee injury and saw parts of the previous season disrupted by a hamstring problem. For many players, that sequence would mark the beginning of a decline. Rodri responded by dominating the biggest stage in the sport.
At the World Cup in the summer, he drove Spain to their second title and collected the player of the tournament award. He then added the 2024 Ballon d’Or to his collection, underlining his status as the outstanding midfielder of his generation.
Right now, though, he is back in the treatment room. Rodri is recovering from back surgery undergone last month and is expected to rejoin his City team-mates in Manchester early next week. When he walks back into the training ground, his future will be the biggest unresolved question of City’s summer.
The calendar adds pressure. With the transfer window heading into its second week of August, City know they cannot allow the saga to drift. Lose Rodri late in the window and even their recruitment machine will struggle to find a like-for-like replacement in time.
Work on that front has already started. Talks are under way to sign 18-year-old Morocco midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille, a player viewed as one for the present and the future. But Lille’s £86m asking price is proving a major obstacle, and City have so far refused to meet it.
So the stand-off continues.
Barcelona have made their move and been rebuffed. City have named their price. Real Madrid have stepped away. Rodri, Ballon d’Or in hand and one year left on his deal, sits at the centre of it all.
The next offer that lands on City’s desk may decide whether one of the defining midfielders of this era stays to shape another title charge in Manchester or walks into a new chapter in Catalonia.
