You probably already guessed that Martin Braithwaite wasn’t their first choice.
Injury-hit Barcelona were desperate for a new centre-forward in early-2020. So much so that they turned to a man who, not so long ago, was shivering on the Middlesbrough bench.
If there was ever a footballing equivalent of ‘break glass in case of emergency’, this was it.
If money was no object however – and you don’t need to be on nodding terms with La Liga to realise that Barcelona aren’t exactly in the healthiest financial state – then Rodrigo Moreno would have arrived instead of a man who failed to oust Britt Assombalonga at the Riverside.
The ill-fated Quique Setien was in charge of Barcelona when they came calling for Rodrigo, turning to Braithwaite the Blaugrana bosses realised that their top target was simply too expensive.
Setien’s predecessor Ernesto Valverde, however, had put the plans in place for Rodrigo long before that.
Can Ernesto Valverde turn Rodrigo into a Leeds star?
Valverde, Sport say, is a ‘huge fan’ of a player who, in his Valencia heyday, seemed to have a knack of scoring against the men from Catalonia.
Rodrigo even scored the winner against Valverde’s Barcelona in the 2019 Copa del Rey final. Los Che’s first piece of silverware since the heady days when Juan Mata, David Silva and David Villa were prancing around the Mestalla pitch.
Sport reported, shortly after that most damaging of defeats, that Barcelona were willing to trigger the £100 million release clause in the contract of a 28-year-old Rodrigo.
If you were wondering why Barcelona are over a billion euros in debt, decisions such as this should go a long way to explaining their current predicament…
Valverde, in the end, was forced to admit defeat. That does not mean he and Rodrigo are destined to remain star-crossed lovers forever though.
According to The Telegraph, Valverde is one of four names on Leeds’ wishlist should Marcelo Bielsa opt to shuffle off into the West Yorkshire sunset upon the expiry of his latest 12-month deal.
Jesse Marsch, formerly of Red Bull Salzburg, and ex-Granada boss Diego Martinez are also under consideration. As his Bielsa’s old assistant Carlos Corberan, now working wonders the division below at Huddersfield Town.
Who will step into Bielsa’s shoes?
Rodrigo, at Elland Road, has seldom looked like a £100 million footballer, let alone a £27 million one.
The flashes of genius that became his trademark on the Castellon coast have been few and far between.
He’s scored just nine league goals in 42 games. And, even after two years, no one seems entirely certain as to his most effective best position is.
Rodrigo remains an enigma; A puzzle even the code-cracking Bielsa cannot figure out. But maybe, if anyone can, Valverde can.
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