Barcelona beating Real Madrid to Rodri’s signing would be a power shift in Clasico rivalry

Not long ago, the idea of Barcelona beating Real Madrid to a major signing like Rodri would have sounded fanciful.

While Barca have spent recent summers wondering whether new arrivals could even be registered, their Clasico rivals simply identified the world’s biggest stars and brought them in.

Madrid recruiting Jude Bellingham in 2023 and Kylian Mbappe in 2024 reinforced the sense that, when Europe’s best players reached a crossroads, the Bernabeu would be their destination.

Since Lionel Messi left in tears in 2021 — Barca’s finances essentially forcing them to let go of the greatest player of all time, who then joined Paris Saint-Germain — the Catalans have managed to land some top players.

Robert Lewandowski came in August 2022. Dani Olmo arrived in 2024. Anthony Gordon was signed in a deal worth €80million (£68.5m; $92.4m) from Newcastle United before the World Cup.

Barca say they are now in a stronger position financially — thanks mostly to increasing revenues following their return to the Camp Nou — and that their move for Rodri (who Manchester City appear to value at €80million) does not affect their pursuit of Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez.

For years, they have had to navigate La Liga’s spending rules, coming up with creative financial solutions while trying to rebuild a squad capable of competing in the Champions League.

Barcelona became a club who searched for opportunities rather than dictated the market. Free agents, players willing to lower their salary to wear the blaugrana shirt, experienced professionals nearing the final chapter of their careers and promising youngsters became the blueprint.

To Barca’s credit, it worked.

Combined with one of the finest generations their youth academy La Masia has ever produced, Barcelona have won three of the past four La Liga titles (Madrid were champions in 2023-24) and finally returned to the latter stages of elite continental competition.

But these successful steps have not fully restored Barca’s prestige. This is where Rodri comes in.

Barcelona signing Rodri would give manager Hansi Flick arguably the best holding midfielder in world football, and the closest player the modern game has produced to Barca legend Sergio Busquets.

The greater significance would lie elsewhere. Convincing the man who claimed the 2024 Ballon d’Or and a World Cup-winning captain, long admired by Real Madrid and exactly the type of player they have traditionally expected to sign, to choose Barcelona instead? That would send a message.

The last genuine superstar to have done the same might well be Neymar back in 2013. Having attracted serious interest from Madrid, the Brazil forward, then aged 21, chose the Camp Nou when moving from Santos.

Barcelona back then were a different proposition. They had won the treble in 2009 and would do so again in 2015, with Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar in full swing. Fans yearn for a return to those days, and Barca president Joan Laporta knows it.

If there is one thing that cannot be denied about Laporta, it is that he is a professional seller of dreams. He knows what the business is all about. He knows what supporters want to hear, and he gives it to them.

But even the 64-year-old’s expertly populist addresses have had to be somewhat measured of late, given the club’s financial situation. Rodri would give him a chance to let loose.

The 30-year-old Spain captain, who was voted the World Cup’s best player after victory against Argentina in the final, represents the type of signing Barcelona had almost forgotten they could make.

“Replacing Sergio Busquets is almost impossible,” Barcelona sporting director Deco said in an interview with TV3 in February 2024.

“He’s a very special, very unique player. There’s no one like him on the market, and even if there were, he wouldn’t come because they wouldn’t sell him. The one who comes closest is Rodri, who’s at City, but I imagine City wouldn’t sell him to us or to anyone else.”

At the time, Deco’s words felt less like an assessment of Rodri’s quality than a reflection of Barcelona’s reality. Ironically, Barca are no longer desperate for a defensive midfielder.

Xavi spent two years searching for Busquets’ successor before eventually adapting without one. Under Flick, Marc Casado performed well, Marc Bernal emerged as a brilliant prospect, Eric Garcia has played expertly in that holding midfield role and we have finally seen the best of Frenkie de Jong.

In this context, the club seemed to have shifted their priorities elsewhere. Gordon and Karim Adeyemi’s arrivals addressed the attack, with midfield arguably the most crowded area of the squad before De Jong’s recent injury.

Rodri would therefore not arrive because Barcelona lack options. He would arrive because opportunities to sign players of his stature rarely present themselves.

Barcelona will not be transformed by Rodri. Nor do they need him to prove they are back. Winning trophies under Flick has already gone a long way towards doing that.

But, for the first time in years, Barcelona would be the club setting the market agenda, rather than trying to keep up with it.

Perhaps that would be the biggest victory of all. Not just signing one of the world’s best midfielders, but becoming the club that players like Rodri choose again.