Report: Bayern Munich has submitted a bid for Atletico Madrid’s Rodri

According to a report from Sport Bild, Bayern Munich has already submitted a €70 million offer to buy Rodrigo “Rodri” Hernández from Atletico Madrid.

Per Sport Bild, both Bayern sporting director Hasan “Brazzo” Salihamidzic and head scout Marco Neppe recommended that the Bavarian club should move forward and submit a bid, which has allegedly happened. They write,

FC Bayern is interested in signing Atlético star Rodrigo (22). What’s more, the Munich team is said to have already submitted an offer. Rodrigo, six-time Spanish international, is looking back on a strong season at the Spanish runners-up. He played in 34 of 38 league games, including all eight in the Champions League. The transfer fee would amount to €70 million.

Bayern’s interest in Rodri has been speculated for over two months now and has surged over the past few weeks. The first rumblings on Bayern’s pursuit of the 22-year-old defensive midfielder were heard in early April, when Football Espana reported:

A quartet of leading European clubs want to sign Atletico Madrid midfielder Rodri and are prepared to meet his €70m release clause, say reports. The 22-year-old only joined Atleti from Villarreal in a deal worth an initial €20m plus a further €5m in add-ons, but now has been linked with a move away. Marca cite a fresh report in Onda Cero that Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Manchester City are all keen on his signature.

On May 12th, we then ran a story about a “secret meeting” that Salihamidzic had in Madrid. While there was a lot of speculation about who Brazzo was meeting with or about (Gareth Bale? Julen Lopetgui? James Rodriguez? Antoine Griezmann?), our own Ineednoname wrote this:

So what about the other side of Madrid? Atletico have Rodri, who Bayern have been linked with before, but those rumors went cold some time ago.

Finally, we captured a report from Sport Bild that stated that Bayern was hoping that incoming Atletico Madrid defender Lucas Hernandez might try to convince his teammate to join him.

Regardless, in the following weeks, two club names were on everyone’s lips regarding Rodri: Bayern and Manchester City. Now that both superpowers are chasing the young star, it seems as if a move is destined to happen unless Atletico Madrid can offer the Spain international a better contract.

Interestingly, when asked about Rodri by Sport Bild, Bayern president Uli Hoeness claimed to be unaware of the player and had this to say:

I don’t even know the player.

Uli, you sly dog.

Since Bayern and Manchester City meanwhile are also embroiled in bidding for Leroy Sane, it will be interesting to see if one situation potentially affects the other, as both clubs try to improve their respective rosters.