Matthew Chadder

Wed 21 June 2023 7:40, UK

Talks broke down between Leeds United forward Rodrigo and Real Madrid, according to Sport.

The Spanish newspaper reported online (20 June) that Rodrigo has a £3million release clause in his contract following Leeds’ relegation from the Premier League.

This alerted Real Madrid to the possibility of signing the Spanish international to replace Karim Benzema after their long-time striker made the switch to Saudi Arabia this summer.

However, negotiations did not progress and the La Liga giants have now announced the signing of 33-year-old striker Joselu Mato.

Rodrigo instead looks set to move to Seville, with former Leeds sporting director Victor Orta, now with Sevilla, hoping to seal the signing soon [El Partidazo de COPE].

What happened?

It is hard to imagine that many players would turn down the opportunity to become a Galactico and the report does not make it clear what quite happened between Rodrigo and Real Madrid.

With the striker now seemingly set to move to Sevilla, it is hard to imagine that he himself would have picked a move to Seville over Madrid unless perhaps he was worried about a lack of game time.

Madrid would have surely paid the £3million it took to land Rodrigo and it is therefore interesting to know exactly what could have caused negotiations to break down.

Whatever happened, the fact that the 32-year-old was on Carlo Ancelotti’s radar in the first place is a testament to his brilliant season last year, in which despite relegation, he was able to score 13 times in 31 Premier League appearances.

Although talks have broken down with Madrid, Rodrigo still seems set to leave and it will be sad for Leeds fans to say goodbye.

In other Leeds United news, there has been an update regarding the club’s managerial search.