No To Real Madrid? Rodri Reportedly Not Keen On Move If He Leaves Man City

Real Madrid have been warned to not expect Rodri to join them if he chooses to leave Manchester City due to his preference for another Spanish club. Rodri is on the road back to his best after missing almost all of last season due to tearing his ACL and having repeated injury setbacks this campaign, boosting City's bid to win the Premier League and go deep in the Champions League.

Rodri's long-term future at City, however, is far from assured. He is soon to enter the final year of his contract at the Etihad Stadium and Real Madrid have long been tipped as his next destination. Madrid are experts at convincing players to see out their contracts in order to move to the Bernabeu on a free transfer, as they have done with Kylian Mbappe, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Antonio Rudiger among others. But Spain legend Gaizka Mendieta believes Rodri might have another destination on his mind.

Mendieta told BetBrothers: "When he does leave Man City I could see it being an agreement with the club, there is also a big connection there with Barcelona. There was Txiki Begiristain there and of course Pep Guardiola, but it would still be up to Rodri personally. I still think it would be hard for him to join Real Madrid."

Mendieta predicts that Rodri will actually want to remain at City and get back to the form he was in just before he suffered his serious injury in 2024, one month before winning the Ballon d'Or.

He added: "Personally, I think it's difficult to see that [him leaving] happening, especially knowing Rodri, how he is attached to the club and everything else. It would have to be a very extreme situation where he is kind of forced to leave rather than leaving just because he wants to. I think he wants to stay there and wants to