Man City may need to “ask one star team-mate to LOWER their pay in order to make it happen,” but they “want to make Rodri their highest-paid player by doubling his £375,000-a-week wages.”
In a daring display of audacity that characterises prestigious football clubs, Manchester City are desirous of making Rodri their highest-paid player to ward off Real Madrid. City may make the ultimate sacrifice: ask one of their stars to take a pay cut
In an attempt to thwart Real Madrid’s advances, Manchester City is allegedly about to extend a lucrative new contract to star midfielder Rodri.
To help retain the Spaniard, the Premier League’s biggest teams could need to ask one of its players to take a pay cut.
Since joining City from Atletico Madrid in 2019, Rodri has established himself as one of the team’s most important players.
Rodri’s absence from the Premier League owing to suspension meant that City’s only losses that season made his value even more apparent.
The 28-year-old was awarded the best player of the competition and was instrumental in Spain’s victory in Euro 2024.
The Sun says that because of Rodri’s value to the team, City is willing to pay him £375,000 a week, making him ‘the club’s highest-paid player’.
But there will be a price to pay for the club to put Rodri at the top of the wage scale.
According to the source, City intends to urge Kevin De Bruyne to accept a reduced salary or “restructure his pay packet.”
Nonetheless, ‘lucrative bonuses in a new long-term deal’ would be the Belgian’s payment.
When De Bruyne’s contract with City expires at the end of the current campaign, he has been linked to both Major League Soccer and a lucrative move to Saudi Arabia.
City’s desperate move to bind Rodri follows a slew of Real Madrid players in Spain’s squad attempting to sweet-talk him into a move.
‘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 added: ‘He says he has a contract, that there aren’t release clauses [in England] … He gives me the runaround, basically, but he would be the perfect signing, no doubt. He is Spanish, from Madrid … He would fit in perfectly.’