Man City accept £65m Barcelona bid for Rodri and begin race to replace him

Manchester City have accepted a £65.4m bid from Barcelona for Rodri, clearing the way for Spain’s World Cup-winning captain to leave the Etihad Stadium and join the La Liga champions before the transfer window closes.

Barcelona had two previous offers rejected — the first, worth just £38.4m, was dismissed by City as not serious — before their third bid matched the club’s valuation. With Rodri entering the final year of his contract and unwilling to sign an extension, City faced the prospect of losing him for nothing next summer if they held firm any longer.

The sale leaves City with roughly two weeks to address a significant gap in their midfield. They have identified Lille’s Ayyoub Bouaddi as a primary target, and Lille manager Davide Ancelotti confirmed talks have taken place over the Moroccan midfielder. City were also interested in Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez, but Chelsea set a Friday deadline for bids — valuing the Argentine at £120m — and City did not submit an offer in time.

Speaking after City’s 3-0 Community Shield defeat to Arsenal, manager Enzo Maresca acknowledged the scale of the challenge. “All teams need a player like Rodri,” he said. On Bouaddi, Maresca added: “He’s still a Lille player. But any new signing, any new player, for sure as soon as they arrive it’s better.”

City’s midfield has already been reshaped considerably this summer. The club broke their transfer record to sign Elliot Anderson for £116m, but former captain Bernardo Silva departed for Real Madrid and Tijjani Reijnders is on the verge of joining Saudi side Al Qadsiah for £51m.

Rodri, who arrived from Atletico Madrid for a then-club record £61m in 2019, leaves having scored 28 goals in 298 appearances. His most celebrated contribution came in the 2023 Champions League final, where he scored the only goal against Inter Milan. He won 11 trophies at City — including four Premier League titles — and claimed the Ballon d’Or in 2024, becoming the first defensive midfielder to win the award in decades.