Rodrigo says goodbye to his teammates with the Spaniard poised to move to Atletico for £55million

Valencia forward Rodrigo is on the verge of a £55million move to La Liga rivals Atletico Madrid.

Rodrigo scored 14 goals in 50 appearances in all competitions for Valencia last season, and was also a regular for the Spanish national team.

Although Atletico's priority was to sign James Rodriguez from cross-town rivals Real Madrid, a stalemate in talks has resulted in the focus turning to Rodrigo, who will provide competition for Diego Costa, Alvaro Morata and Joao Felix.

Rodrigo Moreno looks to be on his way out of Valencia, with Atletico Madrid poised to sign him

The forward scored 15 in 51 appearances in all competitions last season for Valencia

In fact, the deal is so advanced that Rodrigo did not participate in training on Tuesday, has already said goodbye to his teammates and is on his way to Madrid, according to Spanish outlet MARCA.

Valencia were originally extremely keen to keep Rodrigo, but Atletico's hefty offer was too much to turn down for owner Peter Lim.

There is concern from Valencia fans that, with less than a month of the transfer window to go and the La Liga season starting this weekend, insufficient time has been given to find a replacement for Rodrigo.

Atletico Madrid manager Diego Simeone has invested heavily in his squad this summer

The 28-year-old, who had a brief spell on-loan at Bolton in 2010-2011, came through the Real Madrid youth system before making his name at Benfica.

He scored 45 goals in three seasons in Portugal, which led to a move to Valencia in 2014, originally on-loan, and his international debut for Spain.

But he signed permanently the following summer for £27million and despite a slow start has become a key player for both club and country, particularly in the past two seasons.

Rodrigo has scored five goals in 18 caps for Spain, including a goal in the UEFA Nations League against England at Wembley last September.