Real Madrid, Xabi Alonso open to selling Rodrygo this summer

New York Times

a day ago

Real Madrid and their new coach Xabi Alonso are open to Brazil forward Rodrygo leaving the club this summer.
The 24-year-old made his first appearance for Madrid in 53 days in their opening Club World Cup game (a 1-1 draw against Al Hilal on June 18) but has played only 23 minutes for Alonso in their three matches since.
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Rodrygo did not feature for Madrid towards the end of last season under Carlo Ancelotti and there were concerns at the club about the player sometimes lacking motivation in training, as reported by The Athletic last month. The player's entourage have always denied this.
But it was those concerns which led to Ancelotti and Rodrygo agreeing the winger would not be called up for the Italian's first squad as Brazil manager, for the games against Ecuador and Paraguay last month.
The player's father (and agent) Eric Goes has complained about Rodrygo's situation at Madrid, with the player sidelined at times because of the high-profile trio of Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham. Those complaints have not gone down well at various levels of the club. This, along with the player's poor performances, had led Madrid to open the door to a potential sale, pending the decision of their new coach.
Alonso took charge at Madrid ahead of the Club World Cup and at that point Rodrygo's future appeared undecided, but now sources at the club, speaking anonymously to protect relationships, have told The Athletic that Madrid and the coach agree the club will not stand in the player's way if a suitable offer is made. When contacted by The Athletic, Madrid said they have no intention of selling the player and expect him to contribute a lot to the team in the future.
Arsenal are one of the clubs monitoring Rodrygo, and the club have held preliminary talks with the player's representatives in recent weeks as they weigh up a move.
Arsenal's interest in Rodrygo and other left-sided attackers such as Anthony Gordon and Nico Williams (also wanted by Barcelona and Bayern Munich) is well-established.
Their interest in Williams has cooled and any of those deals would come at a considerable cost, so in that scenario the club may need to sell to balance the books.
Coaching staff at Arsenal really admire Rodrygo, who they believe could be an option on the left and right of their attack, and he has featured in discussions internally since the latter part of last season.
Madrid signed Rodrygo from Santos for €40million at the age of 18 in 2019 and he hit the ground running at the Bernabeu, scoring a hat-trick in a 6-0 Champions League win against Galatasarary in November of that year.
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The attacker was a regular part of the first team since Ancelotti arrived back at the club in 2021, with starring roles at crucial moments in the two Champions Leagues won under the Italian. However, there have been persistent doubts about his consistency, with the player arguing that his natural position is on the left flank. That also happens to be the same side favoured by Ballon d'Or runner-up Vinicius Jr and Mbappe.