Manchester City

Manchester City's Rodri won the 2026 World Cup's Golden Ball as the tournament's best player, and journalists Fabrizio Romano and Matteo Moretto reported on 22 July 2026 a Real Madrid board split over signing him, with president Florentino Perez said to be reluctant; no formal talks have opened and nobody at either club has commented on the record. David Ornstein reported on 24 July that Real Madrid are "operating on the basis" Rodri joins this summer after a meeting with his representatives, but City do not want to sell, have been working to extend his contract, and manager Enzo Maresca said Rodri will rejoin the squad once he has recovered from back surgery; both clubs told the Spanish paper AS the same day that no offer, negotiation or official contact had taken place.

Manchester City sent a record 19 players across 12 nations to the 2026 World Cup, the largest single-club contingent at the tournament. Striker Erling Haaland has been the standout, scoring twice in Norway's 2-1 win over Brazil on 5 July to reach the quarter-finals against England.

Manchester City is an English Premier League club based at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, majority-owned since 2008 by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan through the City Football Group. Under manager Pep Guardiola since 2016, the club has won six Premier League titles and its first UEFA Champions League in 2023, becoming one of the dominant forces in European football on the back of sustained ownership investment.