Premier League club Manchester City have allegedly made a decision in search of a new midfielder to pay the full price of Atletico Madrid’s Rodrigo withdrawal clause. This was reported by the English newspaper Telegraph.
According to this, the citizens in Rodrigo see the perfect successor for Fernandinho, who is now almost 34 years old, and want to transfer 70 million euros to Atleticos’ account in the summer.
If the 22-year-old Spaniard’s transfer to Manchester becomes a reality, then City would approach its own transfer record set in 2015. At the time, the Skyblues paid around 74 million euros to VfL Wolfsburg to secure the services of Kevin de Bruyne.
Rodrigo is at home in the defensive midfield and has a contract in Madrid until 2023, when his right foot returned to Atletico from Villarreal FC in the summer of 2018 for 20 million euros after moving from Rojiblancos youth to Villarreal in 2013.
Should the Spaniard’s move to Manchester fail, Pep Guardiola has already taken precautions and looked for an alternative. According to reports, Tanguy Ndombele of Olympique Lyon is then considered a candidate for a potential summer transfer.
Either way, the appointment of a Fernandinho successor must be completed as soon as possible, as FIFA is investigating the transfer of underage players to ManCity for violations. At worst, the citizens are threatened with a transfer ban, which has already been imposed on league competitor FC Chelsea.
