Spanish newspaper AS carry a short article in their Monday edition on potential Valencia transfers before the deadline. Within the small article is a sentence reading: ‘Without it going any further, Rodrigo yesterday rejected a proposal from the English club Sunderland.’
So we did a little digging, and it’s being covered in the local Valencia media. Deporte Valenciano claim an exit for Rodrigo would be possible this summer, and they say his reasons for rejecting Sunderland are unknown.
It’s stated he rejected the agreement in principle, so the talks didn’t even get to stage of talking about money, Rodrigo simply wasn’t interested.
Deporte Valenciano’s information is from a tweet an AS editor, Moises Llorens, put out on Sunday.
Igual @paco_alcacer y @MustafiOfficial no son los únicos en dejar VCF. El @SunderlandAFC hace dudar a @Rodrigo_M. habría rechazado pero…
— moises.llorens (@moillorens) August 28, 2016
If the player’s will had been different then a transfer would likely have been achievable.
Rodrigo came through the youth system at Real Madrid, representing both the club’s C and B teams but failing to get a first team debut. A move to Benfica helped Rodrigo build his career and he proved himself enough for Valencia to want him.
It was a very, very complicated deal conducted around the time Peter Lim was buying the Spanish club. Lim bought the player’s rights, with help from Jorge Mendes, and Rodrigo was then loaned to Valencia before completing a €30m transfer.
He’d likely be available for less.
