Snatching Rodri away from Real Madrid was an excellent move from Barcelona.
The Spain international had been in communication with the capital club but Barcelona were able to offer a more attractive project at the heart of their midfield.
It means arguably the best midfielder in the world today will be anchoring Barcelona’s midfield over the next 4-5 years. It also reduces concerns over the fitness of Frenkie de Jong.
To acquire Rodri, Barcelona also managed to wrest around €50m from Paris Saint-Germain for a player they no longer rate highly in Ferran Torres. Another excellent move.
The club still have a huge issue to address in the squad though.
When Robert Lewandowski and Torres both left the club this summer, they took 40 goals with them. Both rotated as centre-forwards last season but Barcelona have yet to make a signing to fill the gap.
The master of space and time touches down in Barcelona ⏱️ pic.twitter.com/BESJxrGg3w
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) August 18, 2026
Julian Alvarez is still a target for the Catalan side, but it is all but impossible to sign him this summer. Which means that Barcelona have to look elsewhere.
A move for Eli Junio Kroupi could have been on the cards, but the Bournemouth forward got injured in pre-season, and Hansi Flick has indicated at any rate that he prefers to have an experienced player as a central striker next season.
Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi have been brought in this summer and can play centrally, but they are primarily wide players and have never shown in their careers that they can produce the number of goals Barcelona are looking for.
Some internal solutions are under consideration. There have been indications that Lamine Yamal could be moved centrally to increase his goalscoring contribution after establishing himself as Barcelona’s leading attacking threat.
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There has to be a bit of caution in taking this road though, because Barcelona might be in danger of shoehorning the youngster into their cherished memory of Lionel Messi. The Argentine flourished when he was moved into a false-nine position under Pep Guardiola in the famous 2008-09 season, but that does not necessarily mean that Yamal can also thrive in the same position.
It is shaping up to be a promising season for Barcelona. They will at least expect to have much better control of games than they had last season. But a failure to recruit wisely in attack could send everything crumbling.
