According to a report in Spanish outlet Sport, four of the biggest Premier League clubs are interested in signing Rodrygo from Real Madrid.
Man United, Man City and Liverpool have already been linked with the Brazilian and now even Arsenal have joined the race to sign him during the upcoming summer transfer window.
His contract with the Los Blancos expires in 2028 and he has an eye-popping €1 billion release clause in his deal. His current market valuation however is €100 million so if either of the interested clubs wishes to sign him they will at least have to offer his market value to Madrid.
Out of the four EPL suitors, perhaps only Manchester City can afford to pay €100 million in the upcoming transfer window because neither Liverpool nor Arsenal will pay so much for a single player. It’s not that they cannot offer such a steep price but these two clubs are very tactical with how they spend their money. Liverpool will go after Rodrygo only if they can bag a good enough transfer fee from Mo Salah’s sale but Arsenal are prioritising the signing of a centre-forward.
Man United, under their new minority owners, can pay €100 million for Rodrygo but Ten Hag will first have to gather a large chunk of this fee from selling existing players.
Should Rodrygo leave Real Madrid and move to the Premier League?
Rodrygo joined Madrid from Santos in 2019 and since then, he’s played more than 200 games for the club in all competitions. Last season, he had 29 goal contributions and he’s kept that fine form going by scoring 13 goals in 41 appearances this campaign.
In La Liga, this time, Rodrygo has managed 31 shots on target with an xG of 10.1 and a passing accuracy of almost 90%.
He’s mostly played out on the right flank at Madrid but his entourage has recently claimed that the 23-year-old has been forced to adapt.
A quote from The Athletic read: “Rodrygo’s entourage points out that he is not playing in his natural position on the left wing and that he has had to adapt to the right flank for the benefit of the team, which has been detrimental to his goalscoring.”
This season, Rodrygo has featured in 29 La Liga games for Madrid but these numbers will dry up next campaign when players like Kylian Mbappe and Endrick arrive at the club. Vinicius Jr plays on the left, Mbappe will probably play up top and while Endrick is naturally a striker, the 17-year-old can also play out on the right flank.
This means Rodrygo will have a major battle on his hands because Madrid also has backup players like Brahim Diaz and Joselu.
The Los Blancos wants to hold onto the 23-year-old but there’s a big possibility that with so many major Premier League clubs interested in him, Rodrygo might feel that the time is right for him to exit the Bernabeu and move to England.
