Real Madrid have their eyes set on signing Rodri in the summer transfer window but the club’s Ballon d’Or protests from 2024 may damage a move.
The Manchester City midfielder was labelled the best player in the world after scoring the all-important goal to help Pep Guardiola’s side win their first ever UEFA Champions League and subsequent 2022-23 season before winning the 2024 UEFA European Championship with Spain.
At the ceremony, a last-minute boycott from Real Madrid shocked many after the club learned that Vinicius Jr. would not win the Men’s Ballon d’Or despite the 15-time UEFA Champions League winners being recognised as the Best Men’s Club of the Year and Carlo Ancelotti, their manager at the time, being named Coach of the Year.
Only four months after the feud, City faced Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 at the Etihad Stadium – wherein Vinicius Jr. was greeted with an amusing banner in the crowd that depicted Rodri kissing the Ballon d’Or trophy beside the song title ‘Stop Crying Your Heart Out’ by City-supporting band Oasis.
Rodri, who was still sidelined with an ACL in September 2024, got his phone out and recorded the scenes happening before him but it was just about the only positive of the night after Ancelotti’s side came from behind to run away 3-2 winners in the first leg en route to eliminating City and going on to win the UEFA Champions League that term.
However, it seems the La Liga club have overcome an ego that damaged their reputation years ago and instead want to sign the City midfielder in the summer transfer window, as reported by Mundo Deportivo and relayed by Sport Witness.
Since his lengthy ACL lay-off, Rodri has suffered recurring setbacks that have limited his playing time this term – but these problems feel like a distant memory now given he has completed the full 90 minutes in each of City’s last four Premier League games.
Perhaps the only way Rodri can progress his career now would be a move to the Spanish capital, but El Desmarque journalist Ruben Uria believes that the 29-year-old won’t end up at Real Madrid.
“It would be very difficult for Rodri to go to Real Madrid. Something broke down between Rodri and Real Madrid when he won the Ballon d’Or (in 2024). There were people connected to Real Madrid who behaved indecently regarding the Ballon d’Or,” he said.
It would be a pain felt like not many others if Rodri was to leave the club, with his importance marking some of the greatest memories that City fans have felt over the last few years.
His exit would likely come under a similar bittersweetness to Kevin De Bruyne’s after the Belgium international wasn’t offered a new contract by City’s higher-ups. The midfielder, who now plays for Napoli in the Serie A, announced he would leave in April last year.
As for Rodri, his future is yet to be determined, especially because City could offer him a new contract in the coming months, with the midfielder’s father giving his two cents on the Ballon d’Or winner’s renewal situation in a recent interview.
