{"id":72319,"date":"2026-08-18T20:46:32","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:46:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/72319\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T20:46:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:46:32","slug":"rodri-arrives-hailing-barcelonas-soccer-values-after-a-tough-decision-to-leave-man-city-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/72319\/","title":{"rendered":"Rodri arrives hailing Barcelona’s soccer values after a ‘tough decision’ to leave Man City"},"content":{"rendered":"

MADRID \u2013 Barcelona made official the signing of Spain captain Rodri<\/a> on Tuesday, with the midfielder celebrating his arrival to a club that understands \u201cthe values” of soccer and saying it was a \u201ctough decision\u201d to leave Manchester City.<\/p>\n

The midfielder who helped Spain secure its second World Cup title transferred from Man City to join a squad already filled with world champions such as Lamine Yamal, Dani Olmo, Pau Cubars\u00ed, Gavi and Pedri.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old Rodri’s contract will run to 2030, Barcelona said. The announcement was made after the midfielder underwent a medical and the clubs finalized transfer details.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very special day, a very important new chapter in my career,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a tough decision. First, because I\u2019m leaving Manchester City, a club that has given me everything and where I\u2019ve been incredibly happy. I\u2019ll be eternally grateful,\u201d Rodri said. \u201cI\u2019m also grateful that they understood it was a good time to leave. Barcelona is a fantastic club, a global reference for its approach to football and the values \u200b\u200bit represents. I had other options, but Barcelona was my first choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodri, who had one year left on his City contract, said upon arriving in Barcelona<\/a> on Monday that it was \u201ca dream to play\u201d for the Catalan club.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen offers came in, the first step was understanding that a chapter at my club had ended and it was time to look for a way out. It took me a while to process that. It was the most special club I\u2019ve ever been at,\u201d Rodri said Tuesday. \u201cI studied and analyzed the offers, they were from very important clubs. Together with my family and friends, we made the decision we thought was best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barcelona agreed to a transfer worth 76.5 million euros ($88.5 million), according to a person with knowledge of the transaction confirmed to The Associated Press on Sunday. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the details of the deal have not been made public.<\/p>\n

Real Madrid was also reportedly interested in signing Rodri at first \u2014 and the midfielder had loudly praised Barcelona’s rival in the past \u2014 but Spanish media said no agreement could be reached.<\/p>\n

Barcelona, chasing a three-peat in La Liga, has already boosted its squad with England forward Anthony Gordon, who will help to make up for the departures of Robert Lewandowski and Ferran Torres, who scored the winning goal in extra time in the World Cup final against Argentina.<\/p>\n

The club is also set to add defender Jo\u00e3o Cancelo.<\/p>\n

Rodri won the Golden Ball<\/a> as the World Cup\u2019s best player and was crucial for Spain’s title-winning campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been with many of my teammates for almost two months now, and it\u2019s been a warm welcome,” Rodri said. “It\u2019s a very young dressing room, eager to do important things. I hope to contribute to what they\u2019ve brought me here for. I\u2019m joining a tight and enthusiastic dressing room.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rodri spent seven years at City, making 298 appearances, scoring 28 goals and helping the English club win 14 trophies.<\/p>\n

He scored the winning goal<\/a> in the Champions League final victory over Inter Milan in 2023, and won the Ballon d\u2019Or<\/a> as the world\u2019s best player the following year after being part of Spain\u2019s European Championship-winning team.<\/p>\n

Rodri had joined City from Atletico Madrid. He previously played at Villarreal. His departure further weakens City\u2019s midfield, with Bernardo Silva having left for Real Madrid this offseason.<\/p>\n

\u201cRodri has been a quite magnificent servant and played a huge part of what the club has achieved since he arrived,\u201d City director of football Hugo Viana said. \u201cWith his achievements, Rodri has more than cemented his place in the history of Manchester City and we all wish him well in the next chapter of his career.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

\nSee AP\u2019s full soccer coverage here<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MADRID \u2013 Barcelona made official the signing of Spain captain Rodri on Tuesday, with the midfielder celebrating his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9573,1252,939,934,728,937,664,935,14716,17,396],"class_list":["post-72319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-anthony-gordon","tag-bernardo-silva","tag-dani-olmo","tag-ferran-torres","tag-gavi","tag-joao-cancelo","tag-pedri","tag-robert-lewandowski","tag-rodrigo-hernandez","tag-spain","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}