Rodrygo has started the season in the best possible form, and the Brazilian is already a top player for the Los Blancos.

Signed as an 18-year-old kid from Santos in 2019, for a fee of €40m, the Brazilian forward is showing that he’s worth every penny spent on him.

Rodrygo could easily have been a Barcelona player, as it was Barca who were close to signing him at first before Real Madrid came into the picture.

“Practically everything was done with Barcelona, we just needed to sign,” Rodygo has said as he recounted the story.

“I asked my dad: ‘is there nothing from Real Madrid?’ There was nothing. I asked to wait for the weekend because we had a game. I said ‘I’m going to tear it up and Real Madrid will see me.’

“My father got mad at me. ‘Are you kidding me? We have an offer from Barcelona. You’re going to play with Messi and you want me to wait?’ I went to the game, I scored 3 goals and gave an assist.

“During the game Real Madrid called my father. The next day, my father left without saying anything.

“He came back later, went straight into my room and had a Real Madrid and a Barcelona shirt. He threw them to me and said: ‘choose.’ I didn’t even think about it, it was Real Madrid.”