Barcelona Gains Leverage in Rodri Chase After Ferran Deal
Barcelona have finally found some financial breathing space – and it could drag Manchester City into a decisive week over Rodri.
The Catalan club’s agreement to sell Ferran Torres to Paris Saint-Germain, in a deal worth close to €50 million, has not only opened the door for the forward to leave. It has also unlocked room in the budget and eased the club’s Financial Fair Play strain, sharpening their hand as they push for one of the most ambitious midfield moves of the summer.
The gap between Barcelona and City, once sizeable, has shrunk. According to reports in Spain, the clubs are now haggling over a difference of around €5 million. This is no longer a saga defined by an unbridgeable valuation chasm, but by how to stitch together the right structure: fixed fee, add-ons, payment terms, the usual battleground.
Barcelona have already seen two offers turned away. Each one underlined City’s stance: Rodri remains central, and they will not be rushed. But the Ferran agreement changes the tone. With a major sale lined up and FFP pressure eased, Barcelona can talk with more conviction, less compromise. They are no longer asking from a position of weakness.
Ferran’s exit, if completed, does more than just swell the bank balance. It clears salary space and gives sporting director and board alike the flexibility they have craved all summer. For a club that has been walking a tightrope with La Liga’s financial rules, every outgoing counts double – money in, margin gained.
Now the negotiations over Rodri sit in that narrow band where deals are either made or lost. The clubs are no longer miles apart. They are close enough that one phone call, one tweak in bonuses or instalments, could tip it.
For all that, the transfer is not done. Not close enough for anyone to relax.
Rodri, as things stand, remains a Manchester City player and is treating it that way. The midfielder was still expected to report for training, with no late reprieve granted by the English champions. While Ferran was given leeway around his schedule when his own move advanced, City did not extend the same courtesy here.
The Spain international spent Thursday in Madrid, waiting for clarity and hoping City might signal a change of stance by excusing him from the session. That signal never came. Instead, the reality of his current status reasserted itself: contract in place, obligations unchanged.
So he travelled. Witnesses saw him at Barajas Airport boarding a flight to Liverpool, the usual route back towards Manchester and back into Pep Guardiola’s orbit. A reminder that, until signatures are on paper and announcements are made, he remains part of City’s plans, not Barcelona’s.
Barcelona, though, will feel the dynamic has shifted. They have money from Ferran’s sale lined up, a cleaner FFP picture, and a negotiation with City that has moved from improbable to possible.
The question now is simple and brutal: with the finances finally aligned and the margin down to a few million, who blinks first?
