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Barcelona have made major progress in their pursuit of Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri over the last few hours. The club opened discussions this week with the 30-year-old’s representatives, and negotiations are understood to be advancing very quickly.

For several weeks, it had been widely expected that Rodri would join Real Madrid. He had already agreed personal terms with the Santiago Bernabeu side, but with no agreement in place with Manchester City, Barcelona have been able to launch their own move.

Barcelona are now working aggressively to beat Real Madrid to Rodri’s signature. According to Sport, head coach Hansi Flick spoke with the 2026 World Cup Golden Ball winner within the last 24 hours, and that conversation may have been enough to persuade him to move to Spotify Camp Nou. Jijantes FC has now reported that the midfielder has given the green light to the Catalan club.

With Rodri now having indicated that he wants to join Barcelona, the next step will be for the club to prepare and submit an opening offer to Manchester City. The back-to-back La Liga champions are reportedly willing to pay €60m to complete the transfer this summer, which would represent a sizeable investment for a player whose contract has less than 11 months remaining.

There is no question that bringing in Rodri would be a statement signing by Barcelona. For most of the summer, he had only appeared likely to join Real Madrid, so if Barcelona succeed in taking him away from their fiercest rivals, it would be a significant blow before the 2026-27 season begins in a few weeks.

It remains to be seen how Rodri’s situation unfolds over the coming days, but at this moment, Barcelona are leading the race to sign him.