Marca reports Rodri will move to Atleti next season

MARCA is reporting Rodrigo Hernandez will move to Atletico Madrid next season for €20m plus €5m in variables. If so, this is bad news for Villarreal—he is the obvious successor to Bruno. Our performance in the second half of the Sevilla match shows how important he is to this team this season.

It is good financially, of course, and makes sense for the player, given he came up in the Atleti academy before joining Villarreal. Recall that Rodri would have been able to move for €12m had he not signed a new contract; the fact it took so long to be done suggested something was in the works.

If this is true, one has to assume that the reserve clause was set where it was because Rodri wanted to move, which is disappointing. As yet, it’s only one report, and has not been confirmed or denied by anyone as far as I know. But it has the ring of truth to it.