Manchester City convey Rodri asking price to Real Madrid as club-to-club negotiations begin | OneFootball

Manchester City and Real Madrid are now in direct talks over a transfer for Rodri, with the club setting an asking price of €75 million for the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner, as per new reports.

The 30-year-old has been the subject of sustained interest from Real Madrid throughout the summer window, but the latest update represents a significant escalation – with the two clubs now understood to be in active, direct negotiations for the first time, moving the story from speculation into the realm of concrete transfer activity.

Real Madrid are described as keen to spend more than €50 million on Rodri, placing a visible gap between the two clubs’ positions – but the fact that negotiations are underway at all marks a sharp departure from the stance Real maintained publicly for much of the summer, when sources at the club had insisted they had no intention of signing him.

Rodri himself is reported to be keen on a move to the Santiago Bernabéu, a personal disposition that has been one of the more significant drivers behind the acceleration of this story as the summer window enters what is now clearly its most consequential phase.

The development arrives as Manchester City and director of football Hugo Viana face one of the most consequential decisions of their summer – whether to sanction the departure of the midfielder who, more than any other, has defined the club’s most successful modern period on the pitch.

Reports: Direct talks underway as City weigh wider interest

According to Patrick Berger of Sky Sports Germany, Manchester City and Real Madrid are now in direct talks over Rodri, with City having set an asking price of €75 million and Real Madrid keen to spend in excess of €50 million as the two clubs work to find common ground on a deal that could yet become one of the most significant transfers of the entire summer window.

Berger’s report confirms that Rodri is personally keen on making the move to Real Madrid – a detail that materially strengthens the Spanish club’s negotiating position and increases the pressure on City to engage seriously with the discussions rather than hold firm on a price the selling club would prefer not to move from.

Fabrizio Romano adds a further dimension, reporting that Manchester City have the feeling that more clubs could yet enter the race to sign Rodri – a factor that Viana and the club’s hierarchy will be acutely aware of as they assess how much leverage they hold in negotiations with Real Madrid and whether a higher offer might yet emerge from elsewhere.

That sense of a gathering market around Rodri is consistent with earlier reporting that had placed Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona among the clubs tracking his situation, with PSG having already contacted City earlier in the window to enquire about the conditions of a potential transfer before Real Madrid’s direct talks began.

What do the direct talks mean for Man City and Rodri’s future?

The gap between City’s €75 million asking price and Real Madrid’s willingness to spend in excess of €50 million is a meaningful one – equivalent to roughly £21 million at current exchange rates – but it is not an insurmountable distance when the personal desire of the player and the ambition of the buying club are both pointing firmly in the same direction.

Enzo Maresca is currently on the east Asia pre-season tour without Rodri, who remains on post-World Cup rest having captained Spain to the FIFA World Cup title in North America – and the resolution of his future now threatens to define the broader shape of City’s rebuild in ways that no other outstanding piece of business this summer could match.

The possibility of further clubs entering the race, as Romano reports City believe could happen, gives Viana a degree of leverage in discussions with Real Madrid – but it also raises the possibility that a bidding war could develop that makes the decision even more difficult to resist, particularly if Rodri’s own desire to leave is confirmed clearly and formally in the coming days.

Whether City hold firm on their €75 million valuation, accept a compromise, or face a situation in which the player’s preference forces their hand regardless of the asking price, the direct talks confirmed by Berger represent a moment from which it will be very difficult for either side to retreat without a definitive conclusion in the very near future.