Rodrygo Silva de Goes, simply known as Rodrygo has been one of the standout youngsters in Brazilian football after impressing for Santos.
His playing style has seen him draw comparisons to Paris Saint-Germain’s star and has been dubbed as “little Neymar”.
The 17-year-old signed a contract at Santos in 2017 and his current deal will expire in 2022. He has a release clause of €50m in his contract. There is no surprise Rodrygo is attracting interest from top clubs across Europe.
According to the Catalan newspaper Mundo Deportivo, Rodrygo is a transfer target for Barcelona, Manchester City and PSG. Earlier in May, reports from Brazil and Spain revealed the player’s agent and father had made a trip to Barcelona and the latter wanted to block his transfer to Europe.
Barcelona were interested in signing Vinícius Júnior from Flamengo and the player’s father and agent gave a word to them that he will make a switch to Camp Nou. However, Real Madrid were successful in beating their arch-rivals for Vinícius Júnior’s signature.
The Spanish champions want to avoid a similar situation with Rodrygo. They are aware of the interest from Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, and also face competition from PSG, in signing the teenager. After having positive talks with the player’s camp, they will now try to persuade Santos to agree a deal with them.
If the two clubs agree a deal, then Barcelona are willing to allow Rodrygo stay at Santos until 2020. This will help the player’s development before making a big jump to Europe.
Last month it was Liverpool rather than Manchester City getting the English attention, and Sport Witness got our man in Brazil to write an explanation of Rodrygo’s talents and situation… read it here.
