Manchester City are preparing to offer star midfielder Rodri a new double-your-money deal that will keep him at the Etihad through his prime years in appreciation of the fact that the Premier League champions see the midfielder as one of their most influential players and are preparing to reward him with a pay rise that would take him up to a reported £375,000-a-week.
The deal would put him on parity with City’s top earners, such as Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne, according to the Mirror.Despite having been quiet so far in this transfer window, City are understood to be pinning their midfield lynchpin down to a new deal as a top priority. At 28, Rodri is reaching the peak years of his career and it’s known manager Pep Guardiola is willing to shape his midfield around the player.
With still three years left on his current agreement, the Spanish midfielder has recently admitted that some of Real Madrid’s players have been on the charm offensive in a bid to lure him to the country’s capital.
Rodri suffered a thigh injury after a collision with former City defender Aymeric Laporte in Spain’s Euro 2024 final victory over England – and City have allowed him extra rest over the summer although Guardiola says Rodri feels fine. Rodri did not return to the club until Wednesday, when he completed pre-season tests.
“He hasn’t trained and I haven’t seen him yet,” Guardiola said.
“I think he feels good. But we have to start training and we’ll see how he moves his body and how he feels.”
Guardiola maintained there is ‘no chance’ of Rodri travelling to Stamford Bridge, after Mateo Kovacic and teenager Nico O’Reilly manned midfield against United in the Community Shield.
Rodri has been pivotal to City’s success in recent seasons, and has only grown in stature since joining the Blues in 2019.