Manchester City are bracing themselves, as Real Madrid are reportedly gearing up for an enormous summer of transfer activity, with the arrival of Kylian Mbappe heralding the start of a new era of lavish spending at the Bernabeu. As many as four Premier League stars are said to be on the radar of the 15-time European champions.
Manchester City midfield linchpin Rodri tops the list of big names being linked with Los Blancos. The Spain captain previously played for Real Madrid's bitter local rivals, Atletico Madrid.
The La Liga giants are also said to have their sights set on signing key players from Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham. It comes after several years of relatively restrained spending, with younger and less established players targeted during that period.
According to the Independent, Real are also targeting Liverpool right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold, and Arsenal and Tottenham centre-halves William Saliba and Cristian Romero. It goes without saying that landing the lot of them would send out a big message to the Premier League – whose financial power has increasingly superseded that of all of Europe's other top leagues.
Rodri, however, would appear to be the priority, and he has been urged to move to the Bernabeu before. His Euro 2024-winning Spain teammate, current Real defender Dani Carvajal, revealed to COPE during that tournament: "I tell [Rodri] every day to come to Madrid.
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"I tell him: 'Leave Manchester – there is no sun there – and come to Madrid; we need you. And what's more, you're from Madrid."
Carvajal makes a compelling argument – but how much would Real have to shell out to secure Rodri's signature? Well, Transfermarkt currently values the 28-year-old – who scored Manchester City's winning goal in the 2023 Champions League final – at just shy of £110m.
Would that be money well spent? For arguably the best midfielder in the world, you betcha. In FourFourTwo's view, these are exciting rumours for Los Blancos fans – but little more than that right now. It's fitting that these whispers are emerging just as the Champions League begins and Real pit themselves directly against Prem giants, but gone are the days of Real and Barcelona bullying English sides for their biggest talents.
Manchester City have more than enough might to keep Rodri, Tottenham to keep Romero and Arsenal to keep Saliba. The most likely seems to be Trent Alexander-Arnold, who Liverpool would be powerless to stop leaving at the end of his contract – which doesn't exactly reinforce this talk of big-spending in the market from Real…
All talk? Perhaps.
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