Real Madrid’s dream in the summer of 2025 was to sign Manchester City star Rodri as a permanent replacement for Toni Kroos. However, this dream was completely dashed, and AS newspaper revealed the reasons behind Florentino Pérez’s decision to back down from the deal.
According to the report, Real Madrid planned to try to sign Rodri only if Manchester City were severely punished in one of its 115 cases for breaching Financial Fair Play regulations. At that point, the English club would be open to selling its stars.
Initial reports from England indicated the possibility of City being relegated and stripped of some titles. However, the reality is that the charges against the club have not been proven, and even if some of them are proven, the sanctions will amount to no more than a points deduction, which will have no practical impact.
For this reason, Real Madrid’s management realized that signing Rodri would require a double effort in all aspects, starting with negotiating with the player and convincing him of the option of moving to the Santiago Bernabéu, all the way to meeting City’s financial demands, which would exceed €100 million if the club even agreed to release the player.
At the same time, Rodri’s cruciate ligament injury last season was one of the factors that worried Real Madrid about signing the player this summer. Perez’s entourage preferred to wait and ensure that the Spanish international had recovered and returned to full strength before paying a large sum to acquire him, which proved otherwise.
Rodri’s contract with Manchester City still runs until the summer of 2027. If he does not renew his contract next season and performs well, Real Madrid will be aggressive next summer in an attempt to convince the 29-year-old to move to Los Blancos, especially since his club would not mind selling him for an affordable sum rather than losing him for free the following summer.
It should be noted that all Spanish media outlets have unanimously stated that Real Madrid has no plans to sign a new midfielder this summer, and the club will wait until next year to take further action in this regard.
