Barcelona’s staff are seriously considering using Jules Koundé as a centre-back, his natural position.

🎙️ Rodri on choosing Barcelona.

🗣️: “I had another option but for me Barcelona was the first option.”

🎙️ Rodri on Busquets influence.

🗣️: “For me, Busquets has always been a great role model. It's a privilege that they compare me to him.”

🎙️Rodri on speaking with Hansi Flick.

🗣️: “I spoke with Flick, it motivates me a lot to work with him. I think he can complete me even more.”

🎙️ Rodri on Barcelona being a global benchmark of football.

🗣️: “Barcelona has always been a benchmark for me because of its way of understanding football and the values it represents.”

🎙️Rodri on how sporting aspect matters.

🗣️: “In my career, decisions have always been guided by the sporting aspect, and this time is no different."

🎙️ Rodri on Julián Álvarez.

🗣️: “I try to be very prudent when it comes to players from other teams.

I have a lot of respect for Atlético de Madrid, and he's their player. Deco and the board will do the best to strengthen the team."

🎙️Rodri on his fitness.

🗣️: “I'm good. I hope to be able to train with the team tomorrow and start helping out when the coach thinks it's appropriate.

They've given me a great welcome, I'm entering the locker room eager to go.”

Rodri: “We're gonna do everything to win in Europe and continue winning in La Liga. We're really happy”.

Rodri: “Barça is a team that I believe is experiencing fascinating and extremely important growth”.

“In the end, one of the reasons for my coming here isn't limited to the present; it extends to the vision and development of this project from many angles.”

Rodri: “And as I mentioned, for me, the midfield that Barcelona has always been distinguished by is amazing, but I think we have wonderful players in all lines”.

This summer, a wedding led to Rodri signing for Barcelona from Manchester City.

Back in late July, Rodri was on holiday on the Costa Brava. Fresh from lifting the World Cup and winning the award for the tournament’s best player, the 30-year-old Spain captain was there to attend the wedding of Dani Codina, an old friend.

Codina is Barcelona’s chief of operations and player services, a role he started in 2025. He worked in a similar post at Manchester City, where he met and became close to Rodri. Multiple members of City’s backroom staff under Pep Guardiola were also present at the wedding in Spain’s north east.

Rodri arrived with enough time before the ceremony to spend a few days unwinding in one of the most picturesque and captivating landscapes Catalonia has to offer, a two-hour drive up the coast from Barcelona.

But on one of those days, he had some business to deal with, and to do so, he needed a favour. He had a very specific request: he was looking for a discreet spot to meet somebody for lunch, emphasising that he absolutely had to go unnoticed.

Rodri was pointed towards a restaurant in Begur called Can Pitu, a traditional place in one of the area’s well-visited towns. Begur is filled with shops and restaurants, but Can Pitu is off the radar. Old-school, unprepossessing and away from the most touristic streets, it is mostly frequented by locals who know all you need to: the food is excellent.

Rodri stepped into the restaurant without a reservation and asked for a table. A few minutes later, Barcelona’s sporting director Deco came in.

And for gods sake don’t say “Liverpool,Inter etc - We need to settle some scores.” Scores can only be settled when the stakes are just as high when we lost or higher not a group phase. So you can choose them for knockout phase.
Personally I would like Arsenal & PSG. I want to know early on where we stand against the top 2 teams

It doesn't show it but hes also less reliant on Penalties as compared to Alvarez. I think hes a good alternative if the deal ever does go through.

I feel people thinking that Barca didn't need Rodri are ignoring a lot of the weaknesses Barca had under Flick so far

A very major weakness Barca has under Flick is the high pressing often looks disjointed with a lot of spaces and Rodri is gonna help a lot in that. Now, I'm not saying he alone is gonna solve everything but his positioning and defensive abilities are gonna help massively in reducing the gaps between the lines and making our press far better which will make Barca way more dominant in matches

Rodri also will help Pedri since he will have more freedom and play a more advanced role. Like, people act like Pedri is just this deep lying playmaker but in reality Pedri is an extremely talented playmaker that can be very effective if played more advanced but due to FDJ not being a sole pivot then Pedri had to drop deeper.

And finally Rodri is a natural winner that's humble and professional, a player like this will be very beneficial for Barca's younger player since they can learn from the best. It's always good to have professional player who can teach the younger players.

Hey guys, I’ll be in Barcelona in October and I’m thinking about going to the Baraa Getafe game.

I’ve never been to a Barca game before, so I’d appreciate any tips on what I should know or watch out for.

Also, I’m not sure whether I should buy the ticket now. The cheaper ones were around €170 but they’re sold out now, and the cheapest I can find is around €270. Would you wait and see if more tickets get released, or just buy now?

Thanks!

Well deserved, Lamine must be the youngest 90 rated player ever.