Rodri has insisted that he will not decide his Manchester City future until after the World Cup.
The Spaniard has been heavily linked in recent weeks with a move to Real Madrid, and the rumours intensified on Wednesday evening when Enrique Riquelme, a candidate to become Madrid’s club president, publicly vowed to sign both the midfielder and his City team-mate Erling Haaland should he be voted into power.
Riquelme is going up against the incumbent Florentino Perez, who called the elections himself after Real’s trophyless campaign which saw them knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Champions League by Bayern Munich, and miss out on the La Liga title by eight points to fierce rivals Barcelona.
Riquelme’s claims on Wednesday were badly received by City, who were forced to put out a club statement threatening legal action over his comments, which seemed to hint at the fact that both Rodri and Haaland were definitely signing for Real should Riquelme be named club president.
“Haaland has a release clause [in his City contract], and he wants to come to Madrid,” Riquelme told Spanish TV show El Hormiguero, while also declaring: “If I become president, Rodri will play for Real Madrid, with all due respect to City.”
Now, Rodri has responded to those rumours as he prepares to lead Spain, the European champions, at this summer’s World Cup.
“I'm here to speak about the World Cup,” the City midfielder said ahead of Spain’s friendly with Iraq this evening.
“Everything related to my future, will have to wait until after the World Cup.”
Rodri will captain his country in Canada, Mexico and the United States this summer.
La Roja, who last won the World Cup back in 2010, will play Cape Verde, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay in Group H this month.
