Real Madrid plans to sign Manchester City star Rodri in 2025 according to Spanish newspaper AS, which cited anonymous sources.
Already established, top transfer targets following the ongoing 2024/2025 season for Los Blancos include Bayern Munich left back Alphonso Davies and Bayer Leverkusen attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz.
An acquisition of Davies looked possible this summer as well, but with Madrid also landing Kylian Mbappe and Endrick, President Florentino Perez preferred to wait until - like how Mbappe landed from Paris Saint-Germain - the Canadian will be a free agent after June 30 to arrive for nothing next year.
Wirtz will cost far more as one of the hottest properties in German football. Back in April, Bayer's chief executive Fernando Carro confirmed on Radio MARCA that while "no one is unsellable", Wirtz "will not leave for less than €150 million ($163.4 million)".
Rodri will neither be free nor probably cost that much either - but he won't be cheap.
Come 2025 he will have two years left to run on his contract, and while that summer will be the last that City realistically has to cash in on him big, the Spain captain will be closer to his 30th birthday.
City has tried thus far in vain to get one of its star players to renew his contract, and AS writes that there are just two options for Rodri: either agree fresh terms at the Etihad or flee to the Bernabeu.
Rodri is reportedly clear that he would only leave his Premier League employers for a move to a team that it has faced frequently in the Champions League knockout phase for epic battles that have lit up the last few seasons.
In the aftermath of Spain's record fourth Euros win, it emerged that Madrid right back Dani Carvajal had made no secret of trying to tap up Rodri, who hails from the Spanish capital and boasts passages at crosscity rivals Atleti.
With Toni Kroos retired, head coach Carlo Ancelotti misses someone capaable of controlling the tempo from the center of the park, and Rodri fits the bill perfectly as one of the world's best and doing such a thing.