According to reports from the Spanish media on Saturday (the 6th of August), Real Madrid are far apart in valuation with Manchester City for midfielder Rodri,
Although it is barely 1pm CET, there has already been plenty to talk about from a Real Madrid persuasion today.
Just before midday CET, Yan Diomande was seen leaving the RB Leipzig hotel in Austria (as part of their pre-season tour) for the airport and his flight to Madrid to complete his 125 million Euros + adds on signing for the club.
So, good news there. However, less so when it comes to other reports. As we aggregated this morning, there are stumbling blocks when it comes to the signing of Rodri, as the club need to sell a player to make space in the squad. Though that in isolation has already been known, the news today was that Eduardo Camavinga - who the club had banked on departing to make room - does not want to leave.
However, it is not just that holding up a potential deal for the 2024 Ballon D'or winner. Indeed not, as it is being reported by Spanish outlet COPE, via MadridZone, that there is a big gap in valuation between City and Los Blancos.
According to them, the Premier League side want 80 million Euros for their midfielder, whilst Real Madrid are currently offering 40 million Euros. Whilst they would be willing to increase that offer to 50 million Euros, it is said that would be the maximum they would pay, no more than that.
So, that could be quite an issue indeed. It is hard to see City selling for 50 million Euros, in truth. Even with one year remaining on his contract, that sum of money just doesn't move the needle really. That isn't enough money for a club with the resources they have, so you can see why they want considerably more than that sum.
Well, two really tough updates for the Real Madrid fanbase to take regarding their pursuit of Rodri today. Although it didn't feel like a deal was done before today, there was definitely more optimism than pessimism that a deal would get done. And it still could, this is not over yet, but it certainly looks a lot less likely than it did 24 hours ago.
One more thing worth mentioning is that in the reports this morning regarding squad space, it was also reported that Barcelona are trying their best to convince Rodri to join them, and that the player is "thinking about it", so that is another potential spanner in the works, but let's see.
