Rodri poised for Barcelona move as Manchester City accept £65.4million bid

By Ian Parker, Press Association

Manchester City have accepted a bid of £65.4million from Barcelona for Spain midfielder Rodri, the Press Association understands.

The 30-year-old, who lifted the World Cup with Spain this summer, had entered the final year of his contract at the Etihad Stadium and was the subject of interest from both Barcelona and their Spanish rivals Real Madrid.

Barcelona had seen an opening offer of £40 million rejected last week and failed with an increased bid before reaching an agreement on Sunday.

Speaking after City’s 3-0 Community Shield loss to Arsenal on Sunday, Enzo Maresca called Rodri a “top player” and said “all the teams need Rodri”, but City have been unable to persuade their lynchpin to stay and sign a new contract.

Rodri had only returned to the club on Friday, having undergone back surgery following the World Cup, with Maresca saying he had given him a “big hug” when he first met up with him.

Rodri has spent seven seasons with City, winning the Premier League four times and scoring the only goal when they beat Inter Milan in the 2023 Champions League final.

The following year he won the Ballon d’Or but by the time he was presented with the trophy he was sidelined with an anterior cruciate ligament which ruled him out of most of the 2024-25 campaign, while hamstring and groin problems limited him to 33 appearances in Pep Guardiola’s final campaign in charge.

City have already undergone major changes in midfield this summer, spending £116m on Elliot Anderson, while agreeing a deal to sell Tijjani Reijnders to Al Qadisah.

They have been linked with Lille’s Ayyoub Bouaddi and Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez.