{"id":1156649,"date":"2026-08-19T01:44:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T01:44:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1156649\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T01:44:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T01:44:26","slug":"rodri-signs-for-barcelona-as-world-cup-winner-transfers-from-man-city-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1156649\/","title":{"rendered":"Rodri signs for Barcelona as World Cup winner transfers from Man City | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rodri won the player of the World Cup award while helping Spain beat Argentina, and now completes his Barcelona move.<\/p>\n

Published On 18 Aug 202618 Aug 2026<\/p>\n

Barcelona have made official the signing of Spain captain Rodri, adding the World Cup\u2019s best player to a squad already filled with world champions.<\/p>\n

The midfielder who helped Spain secure its second World Cup title transferred from Manchester City to join international teammates such as Lamine Yamal, Dani Olmo, Pau Cubarsi, Gavi and Pedri.<\/p>\n

Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old Rodri\u2019s contract will run to 2030, Barcelona said. The announcement was made after the midfielder underwent a medical exam and the clubs finalised transfer details.<\/p>\n

Barcelona are understood to have agreed to a transfer worth 76.5 million euros ($88.5m).<\/p>\n

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

\u201cVery happy to arrive,\u201d he told reporters briefly after arriving. \u201cFor me, it\u2019s a dream to play for Barcelona. I\u2019m excited about being with my teammates. Many of them, I already know. Now, it\u2019s time to get to work and give my best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Real Madrid was also reportedly interested in signing Rodri at first \u2013 and the midfielder had loudly praised Barcelona\u2019s rival in the past \u2013 but Spanish media said no agreement could be reached.<\/p>\n

\"Spain\u2019sSpain\u2019s Rodri poses with the tournament\u2019s best player award at the end of the World Cup final football match between Spain and Argentina in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the US, July 19, 2026 [Ashley Landis\/AP]<\/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<\/a>, 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 Joao Cancelo.<\/p>\n

Rodri won the Ballon d\u2019Or as the World Cup\u2019s best player, and was crucial for Spain\u2019s title-winning campaign.<\/p>\n

Rodri joined City from Atletico Madrid in 2019. He scored the winning goal 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

His departure further weakens City\u2019s midfield, with Bernardo Silva having left<\/a> for Real Madrid this off-season.<\/p>\n

Rodri did not play on Sunday in City\u2019s 3-0 defeat<\/a> by Arsenal in the Community Shield. He was recovering from minor back surgery that he underwent after the World Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rodri won the player of the World Cup award while helping Spain beat Argentina, and now completes his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1156650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,94,12,104,93,15,1514],"class_list":["post-1156649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-football","tag-news","tag-spain","tag-sport","tag-united-kingdom","tag-world-cup"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117119646732348902","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1156649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1156649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1156650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1156649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1156649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1156649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}