Fabrizio Romano Transfer News: Fermin to Chelsea TRUTH, Mainoo CONFIRMATION, Sancho DETAILS

Cameron Smith

• 4 Sept 2025 08:15 BST
• 7 min read

News

The 2025 summer transfer window is officially over for clubs in Europe’s top five leagues, but Fabrizio Romano has provided another update regarding the futures of Rodrygo, Fermin Lopez, Kobbie Mainoo and Jadon Sancho.

Rodrygo stays at Real Madrid

Rodrygo was heavily linked with a Real Madrid exit throughout the summer transfer window, however he eventually remained at the club, despite strong interest from Manchester City.

“In the recent hours and days, Rodrygo spent some time on social media sending messages to Real Madrid fans,” Romano admitted in his latest YouTube video. “Beautiful messages saying ‘there is history to make here at Real Madrid - let's go for one more Champions League title.’

Current ETV

Rodrygo

F (R), M (RL)

Real Madrid

Rodrygo

F (R), M (RL)

Real Madrid

€103.7M

ETV Range

€93.3M - €114.1M

View full profile

“Rodrygo is sending love messages to Real Madrid because the story this summer has been quite intense. The interest from Manchester City was very strong, very real and very concrete. They wanted to go for Rodrygo, but only in the case of an exit for Savinho.

“This was a financial decision. If Savinho went to Tottenham, Rodrygo had a concrete chance to go to Man City although it would’ve depended on Real Madrid because Man City never made an official bid.

“It was always an internal conversation at Man City. But, in all the internal conversations about another forward, the name mentioned by Pep Guardiola was Rodrygo. This was the desire of the coach and this was the internal discussion.

“Then nothing happened with Savinho because Man City didn't want to sell the player. They decided against that despite more than €70 million being on the table from Tottenham, and Rodrygo never opened the doors to an exit.”

Romano added: “Rodrygo always confirmed his intention to be very happy at Real Madrid, to compete at Real Madrid and to try to convince Xabi Alonso and the club. From what I heard, Real Madrid made clear to intermediaries that to sign Rodrygo it was never going to be less than €100m and probably something around €120m.”

Fermin Lopez

Fermin Lopez was also tipped to leave La Liga this summer, although Chelsea were eventually unable to finalise an agreement with the Spain international.

“More than happy to stay at Barcelona is Fermin Lopez as he made a clear decision to continue at Barca,” Romano said. “He also spoke to Mundo Deportivo in the recent hours and made clear that he never wanted to leave.

“Chelsea sent a bid of €40m for Fermin because they had a feeling they could tempt the player. Chelsea didn't technically need the player in that position, but they saw an opportunity in Fermin and the bid was something like ‘if there is a chance to go for this boy, we are more than happy to get the deal done on Deadline Day.’

“But, what I can add to you is that Fermin will stay on the list of Chelsea for the future. He's a player who was already on the list one year ago, he remained on the list this summer and he will be on the list in the future. I think Fermin to Chelsea is a link that will remain in the future, but this will always be down to the player because Fermin is more than happy at Barcelona.

“He believes Barcelona are the best club in the world, he is in love with everything about Barcelona and so it's not going to be easy to find an agreement with the boy.

“But Chelsea wanted to try, although Barcelona were never going to accept €40m for Fermin. Sources from Barcelona always said they didn’t want to sell unless they received an indication from the player that he wanted to leave the club. They also wanted around €80m for Fermin.”

Jadon Sancho loan arrangement

Jadon Sancho finally left Man Utd on Deadline Day as he completed an initial loan move to Aston Villa after spending last season at Chelsea.

“It's important to clarify the operation of Jadon Sancho with Aston Villa because Manchester United will cover 20% of his salary and Aston Villa will cover 80%,” Romano revealed.

Current ETV

Jadon Sancho

M (RL), AM (L)

Aston Villa

Jadon Sancho

M (RL), AM (L)

Aston Villa

€31.5M

ETV Range

€28.4M - €34.7M

View full profile

“So, Man Utd will save important money. Obviously their preference was to sell the player and in Italy there were clubs prepared to pay £20. But, Sancho never said ‘yes’ to Italian clubs, despite reports, and this is why Man Utd accepted a loan for Sancho.

“The player said ‘no’ to Saudi, ‘no’ to Turkey, to Besiktas in this case, and when Italian clubs arrived, it was okay for Man Utd but never for Sancho.

“So he went to Aston Villa, and Man Utd will have some bonuses linked to the performances of Sancho and the performances of Aston Villa. They are quite satisfied with the operation.

“Of course, it's not easy to manage these kinds of players, such as Sancho, Antony and Alejandro Garnacho, when you need to find a solution and the whole world knows they are out of the project.

“Man Utd did their best and they hope Sancho will find his best form at Aston Villa like Marcus Rashford died.

“Sancho spoke to Rashford about the possibility and this is showing how Man Utd and Villa built the operation. What I can guarantee to you today is that it’s completely over between Sancho and Man Utd for the present and the future. Nothing will happen anymore, it’s over and they’ve already said their goodbyes.”

Kobbie Mainoo update

Finally, Romano clarified the truth regarding Kobbie Mainoo’s desire to leave Man Utd.

“The situation with Kobbie Mainoo is different to Sancho’s,” Romano confirmed. “Mainoo’s situation took six or seven days to handle because he went directly to Ruben Amorim and the club to say: ‘I’m not happy here because I don’t play.’

“I can guarantee that Mainoo loves Man Utd and he is very happy with Man Utd, but he's not happy about the game time and as Man Utd don't have European football, they only play in the Premier League at least until January.

“This is why Mainoo asked to go on loan. He never asked to go on a permanent deal. There were rumours of a permanent transfer to Napoli for £50m, but this was never a possibility for Man Utd or Mainoo.

“But, the player wanted to go on loan and it was a priority for Mainoo to go on loan. Man Utd said ‘no.’ Sir Jim Ratcliffe was also involved and the club internally decided they couldn’t let him go.

“Now I think we have some interesting months ahead because if Mainoo plays, the situation will be okay. If Mainoo stays on the bench, I think this could be a topic again in January.

“It’s an interesting situation to watch and the player wants to play. He's very young, the World Cup is coming and Mainoo wants to be there. He also wants to improve. It's not just about playing at the World Cup, it's also about Man Utd and his career.”

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