Barcelona Pursues Rodri with New €70m Bid

Barcelona have cranked up their pursuit of Rodri with a third bid worth around €70million (£60m) – and this time, Manchester City can see the finish line.

The latest offer, as revealed to TEAMtalk, still falls short of City’s valuation, but the gap is shrinking fast. With bonuses and add-ons included, both clubs are now operating in the same ballpark, closing in on the €80m (£68m) package City are demanding.

Rodri, 30, is heading into the final year of his contract at the Etihad, five years on from his arrival from Atletico Madrid in 2019. In that time he has grown into the heartbeat of City’s midfield and a modern club great: four Premier League titles, a Champions League, two FA Cups and, crowning it all, the 2024 Ballon d’Or.

Now, with Pep Guardiola gone at the end of last season, the prospect of another pillar of the era walking away feels very real.

Barcelona tested the water earlier this month with an opening bid of £38.5m for the Spain international, fresh from helping his country win the World Cup this summer. City dismissed that out of hand. The Catalan club came back with a second proposal worth around €60m (£51m), which was also rejected, but it set the tone: they were not going away.

The third offer has followed exactly on that trajectory. City sources have indicated to TEAMtalk that they now expect a deal to be wrapped up in the coming days, provided Barcelona push the total package up to that €80m mark.

The pressure is not just on the clubs. City made it clear to Rodri and his representatives that if no agreement with Barcelona was in place before pre-season, he had to report back to Manchester. He did exactly that, returning to England while talks rumbled on in the background.

At the same time, City told the player’s camp they needed to be proactive in helping Barcelona edge closer to the asking price. That message has landed. TEAMtalk understands Rodri’s entourage is now deeply involved in the negotiations, effectively working in tandem with Barcelona to engineer a compromise.

The result is a deal edging closer with every conversation. Barcelona’s latest proposal is another sizeable stride towards City’s valuation, and there is growing confidence on all sides that an agreement will eventually be struck.

Rodri’s stance has not shifted: he wants the move to Camp Nou.

For now, he is still a Manchester City player, training under a new manager while the club weigh up life after Guardiola. But with Barcelona’s third bid on the table and the numbers finally converging, it feels like only a few more phone calls will decide whether City lose the man who has been their on‑field metronome for half a decade.