Manchester City want Rodri to sign new contract ASAP – here’s why

It is perhaps no surprise that Manchester City are trying to sign Rodri to a new contract as soon as possible.

Their midfield stalwart, the man who scored the winner against Wednesday night’s opponents Inter Milan to secure the club’s first Champions League title, has been offered a huge new contract that would bring him closer to the current earnings of Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland.

Timing is a common practice for City. Rodri has three years left on his current deal and that is when the clock starts ticking for the club. With two years to go, the leverage starts to shift towards the player: the closer he gets to leaving for free, the more money he can demand in terms of wages and the more that encourages rival clubs to do a deal.

Just look at Bayern Munich’s situation with Jamal Musiala, for example, which City could naturally look to take advantage of.

City want to avoid this happening to them and this time in 2018 they offered Leroy Sane new terms to tie him down in time, but they always had resistance and basically knew at the beginning of 2019 that he wanted to leave.

On the other hand, after a difficult period for John Stones a few years ago, City felt no particular rush to renew his terms, meaning they were comfortable with him for the final two years of his contract. In the first of those two years, the 2020-21 season, he had a good season and so City were desperate to keep him, it just cost them a little more due to his increased value.

It is understandable that Rodri, given his importance to the team, wants everything sorted out quicker than usual and is pushing for an answer.

They hope he signs and cases like Sane’s have been rare in recent years, with players being offered more money to stay where they are already happy. That could easily be the case with Rodri, who knows he has more or less everything he could hope for in Manchester, apart from sun and family.

But there is another consideration, and as well as the money, pedigree and ambition he enjoys at City, Real Madrid can also offer the sun and the family element.

No other club is in a position to sign Rodri at this stage, either financially or on a sporting level, but City always felt that one day Madrid might call on him. To a certain extent, that day has arrived.

Following the 28-year-old’s exploits with Spain this summer, being named player of the tournament at the European Championship and, with that, climbing the Ballon d’Or rankings, his value has increased around the world, but particularly in Spain.

Real Madrid right-back Dani Carvajal has openly explained that he has been telling Rodri to move to the Santiago Bernabeu for some time, and given the politics of Spanish football, you can be sure that wasn’t just an idle comment.

Last week, the Madrid daily AS ran a front-page headline: “Rodrigo 2025”. Club sources downplayed the news, and for good reason: they know the operation will be difficult to pull off. And while this story suggests the operation is underway, it is not in great shape.

A source, speaking anonymously to The Athletic In order to protect their relationships, Real Madrid have confirmed that they are interested in Rodri but do not think they can afford it. They know how much City have offered them and have no intention of matching their expectations. They also do not think they can afford the transfer fee that City are asking for.

But Real’s chiefs are prepared to wait for the outcome of the 115 charges brought against City by the Premier League. The hearing began on Monday and it is expected that a verdict will be delivered in the new year. Madrid believe that if City are found guilty and receive a significant sanction (and maintain their innocence), then there could be an opportunity to make a step forward for Rodri.

Rodri is very happy at City, even though he was born in Madrid and the idea of ​​returning there during his career seems to appeal to him.

The decision before him is to sign the new contract at the club he is happy at, essentially committing to City and ruling out a transfer for the remaining prime years of his contract, or to wait and see what happens with the charges and take things from there, whether that means committing to City, or waiting to see Madrid’s next move.

Given that he still has almost three years left on his contract, there wouldn’t be much short-term impact even if he gave himself that breathing space and waited a few months before making a decision. Only a catastrophic outcome to the transfer fee decision would make a move to Madrid possible next summer, and that would be just one of City’s many concerns in this situation.

And if they were not punished at all but Rodri still wanted to move to the Santiago Bernabeu, it would still be difficult for the Spanish champions to make a strong offer in the next 12 months, even if City felt their leverage slipping away.

So there is no sense of concern at City, either in relation to the accusations or Rodri’s future, but the fact that a result related to these accusations is in sight, and that Madrid’s whole plan is based on waiting to see what happens, adds an interesting dynamic to the coming months off the pitch.

(Header photo: Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)