If Atlético de Madrid have half a chance to bring Rodrigo Hernández Cascante back to the club, then Mateu Alemany and Apollo Sports Capital should pursue that opportunity as far as they can.
But does Rodri himself want to return? I can’t speak to that with anywhere near the same conviction.
Given the choice of renewing with Manchester City — where he has played since his departure from Atlético in 2019 — or playing for Real Madrid, Rodri would be at the Bernabéu right now. Madrid however have been
uncertain about whether to pursue the Spain captain in recent months; the latest reporting suggests some board members want to push for him as they seek to capitalize on the World Cup win and recruit more Spanish players.
I would mock Madrid for such a shortsighted policy, and lament that only this club can finance such wild pivots in squad-building philosophies based on the whims of its 79-year-old president. I would mock Rodri too for wanting to join a club that spat on his Ballon d’Or win two years ago by refusing to send a delegation to the ceremony in Paris, after it became clear their candidate would come second. In fact, I did that a few months ago.
I know that makes me something of a hypocrite. Because all things being equal, I would like Rodri to return.
Is this recency bias? Yeah, probably. Does it make me a sucker for sentiment? Definitely.
Rodri just won the Golden Ball after a magisterial string of performances in the World Cup’s knockout phase, capped by a transcendent performance in the final. At the victory parade in the center of Madrid on Monday, Rodri posed for a selfie atop the double-decker with Álex Baena, Marcos Llorente and Marc Pubill, an Atlético de Madrid bandera in front of them.
“Vamos, vamos,” he told Pubill, when the defender asked him if he was sure about taking this particular photo. Atlético then reposted said photo on its social media accounts.
Maybe Rodri simply was performing his duties as captain. Maybe it was something more.
To play this out, there are warning signs against re-acquiring Rodri.
He turned 30 last month — hardly “old,” but out of the age range in which Atlético typically have signed players in the past couple years, though that didn’t stop Mateu from chasing Bernardo Silva earlier this summer. Moreover, he tore his ACL in September 2024 and played only 21 games in the Premier League last season. He played through a back injury at the World Cup and will undergo surgery to repair it, with his return date “unknown.”
Plus, there is the old wound of his exit seven years ago. Rodri’s homecoming from Villarreal was met warmly, but after a single season, he was off to England when Man City met his €70 million release clause.
“Ever since I was a kid, it was my dream to play for Atlético de Madrid,” Rodri told DAZN last month. He joined Atlético’s academy when he was 11 years old. He left, six years later, deemed physically unfit to continue in the cantera. Then he came back. Before leaving again.
Rodri and Diego Simeone were a bit like oil and water. Simeone always has been comfortable managing within fine margins and will cede 70 percent of the ball if it wins him a knockout tie. Rodri has to play on the front foot and dominate the game in the opponent’s half. It’s what made him such a natural fit under Pep Guardiola. It’s what made him Spain’s best pivot since Busquets. If he were to re-join Atleti, it probably would have to be when Simeone’s contract ends — which means waiting a year, if the coach doesn’t renew.
Yet the reason I still want Rodri is the same reason I still want Cristian Romero. These are players who are systems of their own. They possess such jerarquía, such outstanding instinct and inherent tactical and technical qualities, that I’m willing to assume the obvious injury and disciplinary risk to benefit from the jump in quality they would add.
To watch Rodri in Sunday’s World Cup final was to watch footballing majesty. The game fell under his spell within 20 minutes. Dropping in between Pau Cubarsí and Aymeric Laporte, Rodri waved away Argentina’s press and uncorked an array of crisp diagonals or line-splitting passes through the middle.
In 99 minutes, he lost possession five times. He attempted 106 passes and completed 101. No player completed more final third passes at the World Cup than he did. Spain dominated the final, and Ferrán Torres’ 106th-minute winner was a long time coming.
Against France in the semifinal, Rodri played “with his Ballon d’Or tucked under his arm.” He won 11 of 16 duels, partnering with Fabián Ruíz to wall off France’s attacking quartet. As a result, the French generated a paltry 0.31 xG, and Spain saw out a comfortable 2-0 win. Rodri at the World Cup placed fourth in duels won and fourth in ball recoveries. On one knee. He is a genius.
If Real Madrid do not succeed in whatever bid they may or may not launch to sign him this summer, then Los Blancos surely will wait a year and try to pluck Rodri on a Bosman in 2027. We saw that strategy put Atlético at a disadvantage only last month, when Bernardo spurned the Metropolitano for the Bernabéu. But it represents Atleti’s best shot at a reunion, if the club — and the player — are interested.
(Besides, does Rodri really want to play under José Mourinho? Does Mourinho even want him? Is he compatible with the midfielders already at Madrid? Does it matter at all?)
If Rodri doesn’t want to wait a year for his contract to expire, and Florentino Pérez has yet another change of heart, then Atleti have no shot. Morten Hjulmand has just arrived from Sporting. Pablo Barrios is likely to be his partner in a midfield two. Koke, Johnny Cardoso, Rodrigo Mendoza and Obed Vargas are all competing for places. The center of the park appears well-covered.
Signing Rodri now would require a difficult, expensive negotiation with City and a midfield overhaul in the middle of preseason. Would it be worthwhile to dynamite that group for a chance at winning the Champions League, in the Metropolitano, in what might be Simeone’s final year at the club? Based on this World Cup, he’s one of the few players who might make you say “well, hold on…”
Of course, analyzing players on the basis of a short tournament can be riddled with fallacy. Rodri’s fitness has been a major question mark for two seasons. Blowing up the midfield for a 30-year-old who — by his own admission — doesn’t believe his Atlético past would preclude him from joining their fiercest rivals sounds on its face like a ridiculous thing to do.
Yet I can’t help but feel that if Rodri were to signal any openness to coming home, then Atlético should go for it. He is possibly the best midfielder of his generation, and a national hero for his performances at the World Cup. The fairytale would write itself.
For now, though? It’s complicated. Just as Rodri’s relationship with Atleti always has been.
