The journalists Fabrizio Romano and Matteo Moretto report that Real Madrid's board is divided over signing Rodri, the Spain midfielder who won the Golden Ball at a tournament Spain closed out through Ferran Torres' extra-time goal in the final 1 2. Romano reports that club president Florentino Pérez is reluctant and is holding the move up. Part of the Real Madrid board is pressing for a deal, according to Moretto. No formal negotiations have opened.
Rodri is under contract at Manchester City until the summer of 2027, which is the fact doing the most work here. A player with two years left is not a free agent and not a bargain, and any deal would need City to sell. Nobody at City, at Real Madrid or in Rodri's camp has said anything on the record about any of it.
The sourcing deserves stating plainly, because it is thinner than the volume of coverage suggests. Managing Madrid, FootballTransfers and Yahoo Sports have all carried the story, and all three rest on the same two reporters rather than on independent reporting of their own. Neither reporter names anyone inside the boardroom. What exists is a disagreement described at second hand, in a week when the tournament has finished and its best player has no club news of his own.
Only one development would move this from journalism to club business. Real Madrid either opens talks with Manchester City or does not. Until that happens the story stays where it is, in the hands of two journalists.
