The wedding at which the signing of Rodri began to be cooked

BarcelonaThe signing of Rodrigo Hernández Rodri to Barça it could not be fully explained without a wedding, that of his good friend Daniel Codina. This is the person who, along with other employees of the Blaugrana club, has not left the side of the dazzling Blaugrana signing since his arrival in Barcelona this Monday.

Codina is a long-time friend of Rodri, with whom he coincided at Manchester City, when he was in charge of managing the player relations office (player's care), a role he has held at Barça since 2025: he is the head of operations and services for the first team of the Blaugrana. Until then, this role under Joan Laporta's mandate had been held by the taekwondo practitioner from Figueres, Joel González, Olympic champion in London 2012.

The relationship between Codina and Rodri is close, they have maintained a good friendship since they both coincided in the cityzen team. And in a locker room full of Catalans and Spaniards among the technical staff and players, they didn't take long to forge bonds. Although the football argument that the playing style of the 2014 Ballon d'Or winner fits much better with Hansi Flick's Barça idea than with José Mourinho's Real Madrid, this match was also decisive in understanding why Rodri has ended up wearing the blaugrana.

At the end of July, after winning the World Cup, the Madrid-born midfielder was enjoying a few days of decompression in Begur, on the Costa Brava. He arrived a few days before the ceremony. Although he was officially on vacation, he was also working on his future. As The Athletic reported, Deco travelled to Begur to meet with the footballer. Although this town in Baix Empordà is very busy during the summer season, theblaugrana sporting director met him at the Can Pitu restaurant, away from the tourist bustle of Begur and frequented more by local residents than by long queues of tourists. In fact, no one made a fuss when the footballer and the blaugrana sporting director met at the restaurant.

No agreement was reached at this first in-person meeting, but Rodri began to seriously consider the opportunity to sign for Barça, when he already knew, since the end of the World Cup, about Real Madrid's interest. There would be more meetings, in Barcelona and Madrid, but the footballer already knew firsthand about the firm interest of the blaugrana team in signing him.

The idea began to seduce Rodri and, in fact, at the wedding of his good friend Dani Codina, held on July 25, after the first meeting with Deco in Begur, he was seen enthusiastically singing chants related to Barça. Among them, the version of Un dia de partit, a song very common among the Barça fans and, also, within the Catalan team's locker room itself. L'ARA has had access to private videos in which Rodri is seen, napkin up, as is done in most weddings, intoning some of the phrases from this chant at the Hotel el Far, in Llafranc – where the wedding was held. There were several Barça employees and the feeling was shared, although some players were not there because they were on vacation and were in Ibiza, among other destinations.

Deco first secured the player's 'yes'

The meeting between the footballer and Deco in Begur, facilitated by Codina's wedding, helps to understand the origin of the start of Barça's signing of the best player in the World Cup. The blaugrana sporting director, as he has done in recent operations, first made sure to convince the player, get his yes and know that he prioritized Barça over Real Madrid. Then, the Catalan entity began negotiations with Manchester City.

Finally, and after two weeks of negotiations, Barça will pay the English club a transfer fee of 60 million euros fixed, 11.5 million in easily achievable variables (such as, for example, depending on the matches played in the League) and 5 million more euros in case of winning the Champions League and participating in 60% of the matches playing 45 minutes or more. Rodri signed his new contract this Tuesday that links him as a blaugrana until 2030 and is ready to debut in an official match after a small back intervention.