Rodri’s transfer to Arab football is now official. The Extremadura native is leaving for Al-Arabi for 8 million euros, which was what the Betis asked for the player’s transfer, and which Mallorca never wanted to pay, at least not all at once, as the Arabs have done.
The conditions agreed with Ortells were a loan until June 30 for 1.5 million and a mandatory transfer for 6 million more if the player played a certain number of games. The operation was frustrated after Fekir’s unexpected departure to Saudi Arabia and Pellegrini’s request that Rodri stay in the squad, although of course now I’m starting to doubt this latest version and what I think is that in reality it was Betis who backed out because there must have already been contacts with the Arabs.
What happened reminds me a lot of what happened last summer with Kang. Atlético and Mallorca negotiated the transfer for months but the red-and-whites did not close it and allowed PSG to interfere at the last minute and take the player, which caused a deep schism between Gil Marín, who wanted Kang no matter what because he knew the parallel business that it could entail, and the sporting director Andrea Berta, who was the one who lost the Korean.
Should Mallorca have bought Rodri for the 7.5 million euros that Betis were asking for? There was more than enough money to do so, but after the bad experiences of last summer Ortells put on the brakes and went for a paid loan, which was the least risky option. Time will tell if he was right or wrong, but what happened is another demonstration of the level of plunder and predation that is a transfer market. Here, he who does not run, flies.
