Rodri has become Barcelona's top target for the summer 2026 transfer window. The Catalan club have secured the Manchester City midfielder's agreement to join, a move driven by Hansi Flick's vision of what his squad needs, chief among them stronger leadership on the pitch.
According to the Spanish newspaper "Mundo Deportivo", Barcelona have already begun to act after Rodri gave them the green light. That was the essential first step before opening negotiations with Manchester City, whom they must now persuade to part with the man who won the club its only Champions League title in history. Rodri scored the winning goal in the 2024 final.
Why turn to Rodri to reinforce a midfield already rated among the best and deepest in the world? The answer lies in a public message Flick delivered late last April.
On 21 April, on the eve of Barcelona's clash with Celta Vigo at the Spotify Camp Nou in the 32nd round of the 2025-2026 Spanish league season, Flick confirmed that he still dreams of "winning the Champions League with Barcelona".
Asked what his squad lacked to reach the level needed for that ambition, he gave a revealing reply: "We need players who possess the character of leadership on the pitch."
Rodri's performance at the last World Cup offered the true measure of where the 30-year-old stood after recovering from his serious injury. He was named Spain's best player as they lifted the title.
Flick returned to the theme during that same press conference in the closing stretch of the Spanish league, speaking at length about the importance of leadership figures in the dressing room. He named a player who had left at the start of that season: "Last season we had Iñigo, and he was a wonderful leader... and we have learned."
He added, in reference to the decisive matches that shape teams' fate in the Champions League: "In such matches, morale and details also play an important role."
Without going into detail, and with no way of knowing what the window would bring, Flick insisted that "the right decisions must be made in the transfer window, without committing any follies."
His squad already possessed "potential for development and a good structure", he stressed. But his talk of leadership, which seemed no accident even then, carries far greater weight today with Rodri moving firmly into Barcelona's sights.
Barcelona are still hunting an out-and-out striker under their window plan, a role Julián Álvarez leads the race to fill, with the outcome of that pursuit still to come.
Flick's words last spring, about a title-chasing side needing leaders in the dressing room, line up perfectly with Barcelona's clear interest in Rodri. The manager has played his part in that too, working to convince the player of how central his role would be to the Catalan project.