Barcelona director of football Deco has admitted they didn’t even consider a move to sign Rodri from Manchester City just a few months ago.
Sport cover comments from the Barcelona director today in which he discussed their work across the summer, including the big arrival of the Manchester City star.
Surprising transfer
The World Cup winner was perhaps one of the surprising moves of the summer, with it initially felt Manchester City would block his exit.
The 30-year-old was due to be out of contract at the Etihad next summer. But Enzo Maresca’s side appeared reluctant to let him go despite that.
Then it appeared a move to Real Madrid – who had long sought his signature – was on the cards. When that move failed to materialise properly, though, Rodri pivoted and quickly wrapped up a move to Camp Nou instead.
His arrival has obviously been played up ever since, but Deco is willing to admit that it wouldn’t have happened with Manchester City’s aid.
“A few months ago, we didn’t even consider it,” he said.
“We didn’t think he would leave City. We saw it as impossible because he had another year left on his contract. The moment word got out that he might leave, I asked their sporting director.
“He told me that if Rodri decided to leave, they would open the door for him. From that point on, we started working on it.”
Manchester City legacy
It now remains to be seen if Rodri can follow up his extraordinary success at Manchester City with Barcelona.
He established himself as one of the best midfielders ever during his time in Manchester, with 14 major honours across seven years and a Ballon D’or success as well.
He was very much the heartbeat of Pep Guardiola’s side, and now the expectation is that he will do the same at Barcelona. Indeed, he is perhaps the natural successor to Sergio Busquets. That means the pressure is on, to say the least.
For now he is simply trying to avoid controversy, as Sport Witness reported on Wednesday.
