Wednesday brought reports of Manchester City breaking the club transfer fee record to sign Atletico Madrid midfielder Rodrigo Hernandez, also known as Rodri. Thursday brought his official unveiling and photo opportunities, via press release, in the morning, and then an industry standard introductory press conference (or as I call them in the business a “product rollout/launch”).
City paid £62.8 million (70 million Euros) to exercise his Atletico release clause, on the deal that was set to run until June 2023. The amount paid is just north of the £60m paid to Leicester City for Riyad Mahrez just last year. He’s signed a five year deal with the club, and he’ll don the #16 shirt with the Sky Blues.
“What City have achieved in the last two years has been amazing and I’m looking forward to being part of such a talented squad,” reads a club statement attributed to Rodri.
“It’s not just the titles they have won, but the way they have managed it, playing attacking football at all times. It’s a style that excites me, as do the Club’s ambitions. I can’t wait to start working with Pep Guardiola and my new team-mates and hopefully we can achieve great things together.”
Guardiola beat out his last former employer, Bayern Munich, to acquire Rodri.
The 23-year-old leaves his hometown club, where he was a part of a La Liga runners-up, UEFA Super Cup winning side.
Rodri is the second signing of the summer for Manchester City, as the first acquisition (actually a re-acquisition) was announced yesterday. That would be PSV Eindhoven right back Angelino; go here for more on him.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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