Barcelona's Pursuit of Rodri Intensifies with New Offer

Barcelona’s pursuit of Rodri is still alive and moving, but the finish line has not been crossed yet.

Manchester City have already turned down two bids from the Catalan club, the latest worth €60 million fixed plus €10 million in variables. City’s stance remains firm: they want a guaranteed fee in the €70–80 million range for a player who has just one year left on his contract.

Barça push finances to the edge

According to SPORT, Barcelona believe they have almost reached their financial ceiling for this deal. Their most recent proposal, rejected late on Wednesday, stretched to €60 million up front with add-ons taking it to €70 million.

Talks did not collapse. They simply moved into a more delicate phase.

Barça are now shaping what they see as their definitive offer. The new proposal is expected to climb to around €65 million fixed, plus €10 million in variables. Of those bonuses, roughly €5 million are considered realistically attainable, while the remaining €5 million would be significantly harder to activate.

That structure could finally tempt City. Barcelona want the offer on City’s table within hours, hoping to strike an agreement in time to change Rodri’s travel plans.

Rodri pushing for Barça move

Rodri is due back in Manchester on Friday. He would rather not make that trip.

His preference is clear: fly directly to Barcelona if the clubs can close the deal in time. He is fully behind Barça’s efforts and, crucially, has asked City to ease his exit so he can leave the Premier League.

The midfielder is also doing his part financially. Aware of the strain on Barcelona’s budget, he has agreed to concessions in his own contract, walking away from figures that Real Madrid were willing to offer. It underlines that his choice is being driven above all by sporting and personal reasons, not by the highest salary on the table.

His stance, and his willingness to sacrifice, could carry real weight in this final stretch of negotiations.

City line up life after Rodri

Publicly, Manchester City can still point to the option of keeping Rodri for the final year of his deal. Their recruitment work tells a different story.

The Premier League champions are already deep into talks for midfield reinforcements, with Ayyoub Bouaddi and Enzo Fernandez among the targets identified to help offset the loss of the Spain international. Those moves signal a club preparing for a future in which Rodri no longer anchors their midfield.

For Barcelona, this has become a harder battle than they first imagined. The numbers have been pushed, the structure reworked, the player fully engaged in forcing the move.

Yet the gap between the two clubs is now small. Small enough that, once the final offer lands, the next 48 hours could decide where Rodri kicks off the new season: back in Manchester, or at the heart of a new project in Barcelona.