Manchester City have reportedly countered Barcelona’s latest offer for Rodri with a new and increased price tag of $94.5 million (£70 million).Barcelona won the first battle in the war for Rodri’s services by elbowing Real Madrid out of consideration. The challenge of getting City onside has proven to be a little more testing. The Spanish champions have already seen two bids rebuffed, although the second of which came close to the $81 million (£60 million) which had originally been earmarked as Rodri’s valuation.That lofty sum already represented a significant outlay for a 30-year-old who has been blighted by injury issues in the past two years. Yet, The Times claim that City’s new demands represent an upgrade. Enzo Maresca’s side are naturally reluctant to lose a player of Rodri’s caliber in such a crucial position during a period of great upheaval for the club. Yet, if the World Cup winner is to follow Pep Guardiola, Bernardo Silva and John Stones out of the door, he will have to help fund the midfield rebuild.Enzo Fernández and Ayyoub Bouaddi are expect to cost in excess of $270 million, while Elliot Anderson has already been bought for $156.5 million. Despite this eye-watering outlay, City’s finances are nowhere near as precarious as those of Barcelona. Yet, the question of whether the Catalans can afford Rodri may be more accurately framed as a matter of whether they can afford to pass up this opportunity.Do Barcelona Have the Funds to Sign Rodri?Hansi Flick is in the market for some new recruits. | Mattia Radoni/NurPhoto/Getty ImagesBarcelona have been battling La Liga’s strict financial regulations since Lionel Messi was forcibly released by the cash-strapped Catalans in 2021. However, after five years, one court case against the division’s rules and countless feats of economic jiggery-pokery, the light at the end of the tunnel is no longer an oncoming train. “You’ve gone through some tough years, but now the club is on a positive path,” La Liga chief Javier Tebas told Joan Laporta after he was re-elected as the club’s president last season. “Barça have nothing to envy towards any other club in the country.”The reigning league champions are expected to be operating under the 1:1 rule, which effectively means that every euro earned can be spent this summer, per The Athletic. That should offer scope for wider investment without the fear of repercussions, especially after parting ways with high earners such as Robert Lewandowski and Marcus Rashford. Ferran Torres’s impending sale to Paris Saint-Germain should only loosen the purse strings further.However, this rosy financial picture may not last for long.Why It May Be Now or Never for Barcelona to Sign RodriJoan Laporta has some tough decisions to make. | Javier Borrego/Europa Press/Getty ImagesBarcelona are poised to leave their spiritual home of Camp Nou once again in June 2027 so that a new roof can be installed. As the club discovered while playing two seasons’ worth of home games at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Montjuïc between 2023–25, this will create an immense financial strain on the club.The reduced capacity of their temporary home puts a cap on matchday revenue, while funds also have to be diverted towards the spiraling costs of renovation. The financial freedom which the club are currently enjoying is expected to rapidly evaporate when those future costs come into effect next summer. This could very well encourage Barcelona to get their business done while they still can.There is also a clear sporting incentive to hurry a deal through. Frenkie de Jong returned from the World Cup with the Netherlands nursing a serious knee injury which will likely sideline him for a considerable chunk of time. Rodri would seamlessly slot into the void created by the absent Dutch midfielder, serving as an example for Marc Bernal—the homegrown, long-term heir to Sergio Busquets—in the coming years.No transfer can be made in isolation and some consideration will have to be made as to how Barcelona plan to strengthen at striker. In the anticipated absence of Lewandowski and Torres, 18-year-old Hamza Abdelkarim is the roster’s only natural center forward. Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi could also play through the middle, while the prospect of Dani Olmo or even Lamine Yamal as a false nine may be a consideration for Flick if no deal can be struck for Julián Alvarez. Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow