Maresca Leaves the Door Open for Rodri: “anything Can Happen”

Rodri is back in Manchester, has reported to City’s training centre and, officially, is once again simply a Manchester City player. Enzo Maresca, however, did very little to kill the Barcelona story. Asked about the Spaniard’s future, the City boss admitted that while the transfer window remains open, “anything can happen”.

Maresca confirmed that he had already seen Rodri after his return, greeted him with a hug and said the midfielder looked well. What he did not provide was the usual reassuring statement about Rodri definitely remaining at the club. Instead, it was essentially a case of “we’ll see” — more than enough oxygen to keep this saga alive.

Barcelona are still trying to reach an agreement after having previous approaches rejected, with reports in Spain suggesting the next package could reach €70 million. Rodri, meanwhile, has returned to work because contracts have the inconvenient habit of continuing to exist while transfer rumours are busy moving you across Europe.

The key point is simple: Maresca had the perfect chance to shut the story down and chose not to. Barcelona still believe a deal can be done, City still believe they can squeeze out a better offer, and Rodri has simply gone back to work while everyone else argues over the price.