The 2025/26 season is shaping up to be a very interesting one with all the big moves that have been taking place this transfer window. We’ve seen Trent Alexander-Arnold make a sensational move to Real Madrid on a free transfer, Florian Wirtz make an astonishing €150m move to Liverpool, Marcus Rashford making a dream move to Barcelona on loan, Mattheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo making a whopping combined £113.5m move to Manchester United and the latest news being Viktor Gyökeres’ blockbuster move to Arsenal worth up to €73.5m. All these massive superstar moves and its only July which means there is still so much more to come with many more big names still looking for new clubs such as Benjamin Sesko, Xavi Simons, Dusan Vlahovic, Emiliano Martinez, Darwin Nunez etc. Probably the most surprising name to be made available on the transfer market so far might be the Real Madrid forward Rodrygo.
The 24-year-old Brazilian forward joined Real Madrid in June 2019 as an 18-year-old from Santos FC and slowly developed into one of the superstar names at Real Madrid. Rodrygo has made 270 Appearances for Real Madrid and has managed 119 Goal Contributions for the club with his most memorable contribution coming in the form of Real Madrid’s famous 3-1 win over Manchester City in the Champions League Semi-Final, where Rodrygo came on in the 68th minute of the match and scored 2 vitally important goals in the 90th minute. Since then, the Brazilian forward has gone on to be a mainstay regular starter for Real Madrid up until the backend of the 2024/25 season. The manager at the time, Carlo Ancelotti, seemed to have lost faith in Rodrygo and relegated the Brazilian to the bench and limited him to substitute appearances. Shockingly even during the last EL Clasico of the season, Rodrygo remained on the bench for the entirety of the game, while Ancelotti opted to utilise young Real Madrid academy call up Victor Munoz to replace the injured Vinicius Junior in Real Madrid’s 4-3 defeat to Barcelona.
With the arrival of new manager and former Real Madrid player, Xabi Alonso, it seemed as though Rodrygo might have a chance for a fresh start under the manager with Alonso speaking positively of the player before the Club World Cup. “Rodrygo is a Real Madrid player. He is a spectacular player and we will need him.” – Xabi Alonso during a press conference. However, the managers words did not seem to match his actions, as during the Club World Cup Rodrygo had only made 3 appearances in Real Madrid’s 6 Club World Cup matches and in those appearances the Real Madrid forward only managed 1 start. Similarly to the previously mentioned El Clasico, Rodrygo was once again omitted for the Semi-Final game against PSG in which the team suffered a stunning 4-0 defeat to the French giants. Xabi Alonso later explained that the decision to not play Rodrygo was a “technical” one and had nothing to do with his future at the club, however from the perspective of many it seems as though Real Madrid are trying to slowly push Rodrygo out of the club. It has been reported by Fabrizio Romano that Real Madrid are open to letting the Brazilian leave but the club will leave the final decision up to the player himself. It does look as though Rodrygo has become surplus to requirements at Real Madrid even though he is a very talented player and has given a lot to Real Madrid. Rodrygo is not as popular a superstar at club like his teammates Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappé who are players that garner all the spotlight. Rodrygo is a versatile player who has been made to play outside of his natural position, on the left wing, to accommodate his Real Madrid teammates like Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappé who both prefer playing that position as well.
It is up for debate as to why Real Madrid are open to letting go of Rodrygo; one reason could be that the Real Madrid forward might be seen as a way to generate a big money sale since the club has let the likes of Jesus Vallejo, Luka Modric and Lucas Vázquez leave the club on free transfers and the club has spent quite a bit of money in building a much younger long term team with signings such Dean Huijsen from Bournemouth, Franco Mastantuono from River Plate and Alvaro Carreras from Benfica. Rodrygo is not short on potential options either with clubs like Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Al Nassr all monitoring the situation surrounding the player however 2 things can be said for certain; Rodrygo still wants to play in Europe’s top level and he also still has lot’s of love for Real Madrid as it has been a dream come true for him to play for Los Blancos. It will be very interesting to see how events unfold this transfer window, will Rodrygo seek a new fresh start elsewhere or will he stay at Real Madrid and fight for his place under the new manager?
