Bernardo Silva is seemingly on his way to Real Madrid. It will be a strange sight to see the Manchester City legend play for a team that has become a major rival for City over the past five years. However, Real Madrid’s move to sign Bernardo Silva on a free transfer will seemingly benefit the FA Cup and Carabao Cup holders. It has now been reported that Real Madrid’s interest in signing Rodri this summer is over. That is massive news for City as they can focus on signing Rodri to a contract extension and continue building their midfield around him for next season.
Real Madrid have moved on from Rodri after agreeing to sign Bernardo Silva.
Fabrizio Romano has reported that Real Madrid no longer views signing Rodri this summer as a priority. Furthermore, Romano reports that with Real Madrid having agreed to sign Bernardo Silva, they are focusing on improving other areas of their squad. It is also reported that Rodri is now mulling over signing a contract extension with Manchester City. Alternatively, the Ballon d’Or-winning midfielder could leave City on a free transfer when his current contract expires at the end of the 2026-27 season.
Manchester City will now be planning for next season with Rodri to build their midfield around.
Bernardo Silva’s move to Real Madrid has paved the way for Rodri to remain at Manchester City. The expectation was that Manchester City’s midfield general would be with the FA Cup and Carabao Cup holders next season. Real Madrid has made a habit of signing players on free transfers once their contracts have expired in recent years. It did seem unlikely that Real Madrid would pay City a transfer fee for a player whose contract expires in twelve months’ time. Also, it was highly unlikely that City would have sanctioned the sale of a player they do not want to lose.
With Bernardo Silva on his way to the Bernabeu, Real Madrid no longer needs Rodri. Instead, Manchester City can build their midfield around their midfield general. Also, City won’t lose a valuable leader, as Rodri’s leadership will be vital to Manchester City’s new era. The major positive of Real Madrid signing one Manchester City legend in Bernardo is that another in Rodri will likely not be leaving the club this summer.
Real Madrid’s move to sign Bernardo Silva has seemingly ended Rodri’s chances of joining them this summer. That is great news for City, as Rodri’s immediate future lies with the FA Cup and Carabao Cup holders.
Gutted to lose Bernie to them. Especially when he said he wanted to play for Monaco again. Will Rodri sign the extension? I doubt it. My bet he’s a Madrid player after the end of next season.
It’s the carbon copy scenario of the tapping-up madrid did for Mbappe.
City will just need to procure the services of the next elite level ballers to replace them which our board are more than capable of doing. All is not lost. CTID.
I can’t help but think that it was purely about money and not where he wanted to finish up. I think most assumed he would return to Portugal or even, as you say, Monaco but in the end he just went for the highest bidder. I actually thought his style would benefit Barca rather than Real especially now that the narcissistic Jose M. is in charge
Barcelona didn’t value Bernardo as highly as Real Madrid did. They viewed him as a squad player more than a key contributor.
Bernardo showed this season he isn’t ‘finished’. He’ll play an important role on the pitch and off it at Real Madrid in terms of changing the dressing room culture. That’s the difference.
Bernardo stated he wants to play at the highest level and Real Madrid offered him that. The money was irrelevant. He’s likely accepted less then he was on with us to play elsewhere which has been reported.
Bernardo Silva has given us everything. He deserves to go off and play wherever he sees fit and he’s found that. Good luck to him. It doesn’t diminish what he means to us and the club at all.
I think we have seen already that the heirarcy at Real do tend to speak with forked tongue. What they may promise and what he may get are two different things. It was reported that Real outbid both Athletico and Barca so no one knows the actual truth. The Order of influence at Real is No1 the President, No2 the Players and last the Coach as the last Chao found out. Good luck to Bernardo he may need it as they are no Manchester City to work for.
If Rodri decides to join the same club which boycotted his Ballon d’Or win, then good riddance to him.
I cannot help but think that the money they would pay him would soften the blow. To be honest his general performance since he recovered from the ACL injury 14 months ago have been underwhelming and at 29 I think we have had his best years so just like Pep’s departure we will have to prepare for his over the next 12 months if he doesn’t sign a contract extension