Rodrygo reveals he turned down Barcelona before joining Real Madrid

Rodrygo has revealed the details of his move to Real Madrid, admitting he turned down the opportunity to join Barcelona in favour of a move to the Santiago Bernabeu.

The Brazil international was signed by Madrid for £38.5m (€45m) in 2019 and has gone on to become an integral member of Carlo Ancelotti’s side. Rodrygo has won two La Liga titles, one FIFA Club World Cup and one UEFA Champions League with Los Blancos – famously scoring two goals in the 90th and 91st minute of a Champions League semi-final clash with Man City in the year he won the latter.

Rodrygo has also kickstarted this season in fine form, scoring in Madrid’s first La Liga game of the 2023/24 campaign.

Speaking to Globo, Rodrygo discussed how his initial move to the club came about, revealing that he had an offer from arch rivals Barcelona initially but chose to wait for Real Madrid to make an offer instead.

“Practically everything was done with Barcelona, only signing was missing. I asked my dad: ‘Is there nothing from Real Madrid?’ There was nothing. I asked him to wait until the end of the week because I had a game. I said ‘I’m going to break it and Real Madrid will see me,” he said.

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“I went to the game with Vitoria, I scored three goals, I gave an assist, we won 5-2, and during the game Real Madrid called my father and he didn’t even have to make the proposal.

“They just asked if I wanted to go, and my dad already knew my answer. The next day I was off, playing video games, I was with my mother and my father left in the morning without saying anything. At the end of the afternoon he arrived in Santos, went into the house, passed me and my mother at the table without speaking to anyone. He went straight to my room and had a Real Madrid and Barcelona shirt on. As everything was right, he had already traveled to visit Barcelona’s facilities and brought it, from Real I already had it.

“He took both shirts, threw them on top of me and said, ‘now, you choose.’ I didn’t understand, but I didn’t even think about it, it was Real Madrid.”

Rodrygo isn’t the only player currently on the books at Real Madrid that turned down a move to Barcelona, with youngster Arda Guler also doing the same this summer when both clubs bid around £17m for his services.

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