Rumor: Brian Rodriguez’s agent shopping him in Italy

Transfer rumors have been very quiet during the coronavirus shutdown, for obvious reasons, but a new rumor involving a current Los Angeles Football Club player has got the hot stove warming up again.

Earlier this week an Italian source, SampdoriaNews.net, claimed Brian Rodriguez, who supposedly is drawing interest from around Serie A, is being shopped to Italian clubs by his agent.

“I am doing everything to bring him to Europe, in particular to Italy, he is a champion,” the report quotes the agent, Pablo Betancourt, as saying about Rodriguez.

Rodriguez, who turns 20 next week, joined LAFC last summer after a strong U-20 World Cup showing for Uruguay. Coming out of the same Peñarol ranks as LAFC teammate Diego Rossi, Rodriguez has been a fixture in LAFC’s lineup, but has yet to score his debut goal in 13 appearances for the Black & Gold. Meanwhile, he’s been a regular for Uruguay’s senior team since joining LAFC and has been scoring regularly for his country.

The potential is certainly there and his record on the international scene is sure to draw interest, SampdoriaNews.net citing Sampdoria, Napoli and Bologna as teams that have been keeping tabs on Rodriguez.

As for the veracity of this report, who knows really. Frankly, an agent can certainly help force a move for his player, but he’s unlikely to be so insistent as to drive the price down for his player, and LAFC are not going to want to sell Rodriguez for pennies on the dollar. I’d imagine prior to the coronavirus pandemic the value would be set above $12 million considering his age and profile, but after the transfer window opens back up we’ll see how the pandemic depresses transfer values.

At the same time, there’s also distinctions between an agent recommending a player to a team, a team keeping an eye on a player, and making a transfer offer and completing the deal. An agent can do what they like, but it comes down to the teams to make a deal actually happen.

Frankly, I’d be shocked if Rodriguez is sold whenever the transfer window opens back up. We’re in a global freeze, soccer has never been shut down like this before. I do think it’s plausible European teams are keeping tabs on Rodriguez, but he’s been merely decent, not exceptional, for LAFC so far, and it probably wouldn’t hurt him to get more time to settle and really try and conquer MLS before moving to a bigger league like Serie A. But we’ll see if this story has any legs and update you if it does.

What do you think? Leave a comment below.