Manchester City are confident a deal for Rodri can be wrapped up swiftly.

The Premier League are just waiting on the final go-ahead to make their move after the Spain midfielder declared his intention to leave Atletico Madrid.

City are set to make Rodri the most expensive player in their history by triggering his £62.6m release clause – meaning the deal will be simple to push through.

Delays so far have revolved around the 22-year-old’s own uncertainty about his future – but with hopes fading in Germany that he will head to Bayern Munich, Pep Guardiola believes he has finally ended his search for a long-term successor to Fernandinho.

Meanwhile, Atletico have already secured Rodri’s replacement – confirming the signing of Real Madrid midfielder Marcos Llorente on Thursday.

Llorente was also on City’s shortlist of holding midfielders – and their decision not to rival Atletico points to their growing confidence that Rodri is on his way to the Etihad.

Reports in Germany claim Bayern have already been informed of the player’s decision to reject a move to the Allianz Arena.

Rodri became Guardiola’s priority target after missing out on Frenkie de Jong in January.

The Holland international was City’s top choice to succeed Fernandinho – but he opted for a move from Ajax to Barcelona instead.

Lyon’s Tanguy Ndombele and Llorente were back-up options as Guardiola grew frustrated over the delay in securing Rodri. But the former Villarreal player, who is dubbed the new Sergio Busquets in Spain, has been City’s primary focus this summer.

His arrival will end Guardiola’s long search for a defensive midfielder, having missed out on Fred, Jorginho and De Jong in each of the past three windows.

City are also looking to strengthen in defence, with Joao Cancelo and Harry Maguire both on their wish list.

They are also ready to trigger a buy back clause for former left back Angelino – but it is not clear if they consider the PSV Eindhoven defender a viable rival to Benjamin Mendy and Aleks Zinchenko next season.