The figures at which Rodri's signing for Barça moved

BarcelonaEveryone thought that Julián Álvarez was the main reason for the trip to Madrid of Barça's sporting director, Anderson Luis de Souza, Deco. The Argentine forward has been the clear objective of the Barcelona club for months to strengthen the attack and fill the void left by Robert Lewandowski. Despite Atlético de Madrid's extremely tough reluctance to sell him, it made sense for it to be staged on the field that the interest remains alive. But Deco's trip to the Spanish capital hid another surprising and forceful move: snatch Rodrigo Hernández,Rodri.

The move is surprising because all the Blaugrana official spokespeople had insisted - both publicly and privately - that neither this nor any other midfielder was of interest as a hypothetical signing. And at the same time it is decisive because it represents a real market blow and a missile to Real Madrid's sporting planning, which until a few hours ago led the race to acquire the starting defensive midfielder for Manchester City and the world champion Spanish national team.

Florentino Pérez tried to counter the news about the overtaking in Rodri's future decision. While Barcelonismo celebrated the narrow escape after Deco's intervention to thwart their primary objective of strengthening the first team's midfield, the white president accelerated the announcement of Vinícius Júnior's renewal until 2032, which was posted on the club's official channels just hours after the signing of young Yan Diomande for over 125 million euros. Neither of these announcements overshadowed the blaugrana pumpkins of Rodri, mobilized by the affinity he has with the eight Barça players who, like him, have just won a World Cup, and also by a key call from Hansi Flick, according to the newspaper Sport.

But professional football doesn't just live on common ground and affection. The green light from the Madrid midfielder also comes thanks to a salary that promises to place him among the two best in the entire Barça squad. Only Lamine Yamal's, the team's absolute star, can compete with what Rodri is asking to change Manchester for Barcelona. Sources close to the negotiation assure ARA that the footballer wanted 20 million euros net to continue at the Etihad Stadium beyond June 30, 2027, and will not settle for less than 15 to make the leap this summer to Camp Nou. The gross figure, therefore, would peak at 30 million annually. These are amounts similar to those Lewandowski has freed up with his departure and that fit with the fee of a footballer who was Ballon d'Or winner in 2024 and who comes from being awarded as the best in the World Cup.

Awaiting De Jong

These weighty arguments empower Rodri to ask for a star contract, but they also lead Manchester City to get tough when negotiating a transfer. The citizens do not accept 45 million euros fixed and 5 variable to let go of their starting midfielder and place their demands between 70 and 80 million. Barça has room to negotiate after the bond issuance that closed a few days ago for a value of 105 million, but he would not want to go much beyond 60 million. Be that as it may, the operation now enters the classic tug-of-war of any summer market. Communication between the clubs is fluid and Rodri's patience has been renewed after a few weeks in which he has seen that Madrid, in the end, did not want him with such urgency.

Pending the definitive closing of the transfer figures and the player's emoluments, Barça is keen to draft a long contract (four years) to spread out the amortization of the operation and the total sum of the salary agreement as much as possible. This is common practice because the burden of the fair play financing to be a little kinder. This summer, despite the normality that the 1:1 rule provides, Barça still has signings Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi pending registration with La Liga and Andreas Christensen's new contract. Rodri's arrival would join this list of pending tasks. There are still days to resolve each particular case. If Frenkie de Jong agreed to have surgery and consented to a layoff of more than four months, the process would accelerate. But for now, the Dutchman is resisting following the advice of the professionals at the club to which he owes allegiance.