Real Madrid learn Rodri response to renewed transfer interest

Manchester City midfielder Rodri appears disinclined to encourage Real Madrid's transfer interest when he returns from long-term injury, according to a report in Spain.

Rodri has been sidelined since September following an ACL tear, which cruelly came shortly after the star man had spoken out against the excessive physical demands on players. But the Ballon d'Or holder is trying to return in time for the reformatted FIFA Club World Cup.

In Spain, Cadena SER claims that Real Madrid officials have identified Rodri as the ideal replacement for Toni Kroos, who retired last summer off the back of winning the Champions League and playing at Euro 2024 in his second Germany farewell.

These fresh claims back up what Rodri himself had said at the start of the season.

"When I sign the contracts I don't think of other teams, I just think of finishing. So yes, I have a contract with City and there is nothing else I can say," the player explained.

Rodri, who turns 29 in June, will shortly enter the final two years of his City contract. There was hope from City that he would sign a new deal before his injury, at a time when Real Madrid interest in poaching him was already starting to emerge.

Rodri hails from Madrid and so a transfer to the Bernabeu would represent something of a homecoming, although his career allegiance up to now has been with Atletico. He spent six years in the academy there, before switching to Villarreal and returning to Atletico for a season in 2018.

City paid almost £63m for Rodri in the summer of 2019 and have reaped the benefits of that investment, underpinning a historic run of four successive Premier League titles between 2020 and 2024.

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