A decision that lashes out at Madridism

BarcelonaAfter being turned down for years and years, Real Madrid managed to complete the signing of Kylian Mbappé in the summer of 2024. The French forward, one of the most prominent goalscorers in football, dreamed of winning the Champions League and landed in a team that had lifted the big-eared trophy for the 15th time just a few months earlier. The combination of a winning club and an implacable goalscorer made people fear the worst. But, as is the way in football, the invention stopped working. Excluding the European Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup, the team came up empty-handed just as Barça was establishing itself as the team to beat.

Two seasons have passed and things have not improved for the Madrid side. Four coaches, a crisis of play and results, and multi-million dollar investments that have led nowhere. At an institutional level, there is a lot of nervousness, and the figure of Florentino Pérez is beginning to be seriously questioned, even though he revalidated his mandate at the polls a few months ago. President from 2000 to 2007, and from 2010 to the present, the businessman has been characterized by managing Real Madrid like an absolutist monarchy in which everything passes through his hands, from the financial side to the sporting side, as well as institutional relations.

Florentino has never believed in the concept of a team. As a good businessman, he manages Madrid from the point of view of a multinational and prefers the sticker album formula. It is not a very conventional format, although it has worked well for him in renowned competitions like the Champions League, which he has won on seven occasions. The leader has always explained that he took good note of his first spell in the Bernabéu boardroom, when the galactico footballers (Figo, Beckham, Zidane, Ronaldo Nazário...) ended up having more power than him. That is why, since regaining power, he decided to keep the players on a very short leash. But time passes for everyone and it is evident that Florentino does not have the vitality he had a few years ago, and even less so in a convulsive moment at an economic level, with a massive debt due to the remodeling of the Bernabéu and in the midst of a process of corporate change for the Madrid entity.

A revolution that did not work

The revolution proposed in the summer of 2025 did not work because the stars (Vinícius, Mbappé...) did not agree with what the coach, Xabi Alonso, demanded of them. A coach who had asked to strengthen the midfield without the board listening to him. Quite the opposite: the president positioned himself in favor of the squad and considered that the coach had not known how to impose his authority. For this reason, he turned to an old acquaintance, José Mourinho, who had left behind the image of a sergeant who brought order to the dressing room.

"In the eyes of the president, the difference between Xabi and Mourinho is that Mourinho has credibility and his requests are taken into account," one of the sources consulted to prepare this text tells ARA. It was Mou who asked for a midfielder like Rodri, and from there the club made a move to sign the Madrid-born player from Manchester City. Precisely, Rodri confirmed this interest in an interview with COPE, in which he clarified that the whites had gone "all out." "I don't know what it means to go at it 100%, I can only say that there was real interest, and I thank them for it," he reflected. In the end, he opted for Barça.

Rodri did not want to give many more details and simply confirmed that he had met by phone with Mourinho, first for the coach to explain the style of play to him and then to announce that he was declining the proposal. According to reports from the media that habitually follow the news of the white club, Madrid was willing to raise the salary offer for Rodri. On the other hand, they were negotiating downwards with City, alleging that the player only had one year left on his contract. That is where the negotiations were blocked for weeks. And it was precisely in this impasse that Deco, the Blaugrana technical secretary, learned that Rodri was on the market and got involved. "Initially he was not in our plans," he clarified shortly after the transfer market closed.

A decision that goes beyond the sporting side

"That Madrid didn't sign Rodri has been a huge mistake and one more symptom that Florentino's power is no longer as great. A few years ago, such an operation would not have escaped him," points out a well-informed voice on Real Madrid's current affairs. "Rodri, on his own, would not have solved Madrid's playing problem, but he would have helped," he adds, and highlights the lack of foresight in terms of signings: "Everyone knew since February that Mourinho would be the coach. And everyone knew for two years that a midfielder was needed. Only Bernardo has arrived, rejected by Barça, and he plays little because he is out of shape.

From within the club's environment, they admit that there is "nervousness and concern" in the offices. This is evidenced by gestures like Florentino being beside himself in the Metropolitano's VIP box because Atlético de Madrid had invited Enrique Riquelme, his rival in the June elections. The assembly of delegate members is near, and although the president usually has it under control, there is a danger that it could spiral out of control depending on what happens in the Barça-Madrid match on October 25th. The stadium is still not completely finished, the projects for concerts and parking lots are blocked by judicial order, and the club has needed to carry out extraordinary sales operations – such as the vip seats – to balance the books. Internally, there are many frictions between Enrique Pérez, the president's brother, and José Ángel Sánchez, JAS, Florentino's historic right-hand man. The entry onto the scene of Anas Laghrari, the banker with whom Florentino partnered to obtain financing for the club, has only increased the tension in the executive offices.

There are many open fronts for a football team that, lately, has had eyes for everything except football. Rodri's refusal is one more symptom of this.