It’s being heavily reported that Premier League champions Manchester City are wanting to make Atletico Madrid midfielder Rodri their latest new recruit.

The BBC have stated that City are willing to pay the player’s £62.6m release clause to get the deal through.

If the bid succeeds then it would see Man City break their own club record for a transfer and personally I think it would be worth every penny.

The difference between City and Liverpool, with the rest of the Premier League is that they identify what position needs filled that summer and go all out and bring in the best possible star to fill that role.

Pep Guardiola already has a terrific squad assembled at the Etihad. That’s why he spent big on goalkeepers and full-backs, positions most teams will overlook for as many creative midfielders and attackers as they could fit into their pools.

When you look at the current Manchester City squad, you’ll notice that they really need to bring in a new defensive midfielder to reinforce that position. Guardiola and the City scouting department have clearly spotted that and hence why they’ve earmarked Rodri as a must buy talent.

Now in Fernandinho, Man City have a fantastic holding midfielder. Yet they don’t have anyone else in the side that can compete or fully replace the Brazilian.

There’s a few issues here.

Firstly Fernandinho has just turned thirty-four and playing as a defensive midfielder takes a big toll on your body, especially in such a creative team as Pep’s Man City. The Brazil international also seems to miss a small chunk of a season due to injury and fatigue and in those periods The Citizens aren’t as strong, plus they’ll usually be more vulnerable to dropping points without him shoring up the midfield.

Rodri would give City a new gunslinger that can hold his own defensively in midfield. He was extremely dependable last season for Atleti as he played in over forty games.

The twenty-two year old won on average 3 tackles per Spanish top flight fixture, Fernandinho would win 2 per Premier League game. Rodri is also very good in the air, he won 2.3 aerial duels in La Liga last term (Stats from Whoscored).

Now we all know that Guardiola likes all his players to be good with their passing and keep possession. That’s especially important in the midfield area with Fernandinho recording passing success rate of over 87%. Rodri went even better though as he hit passing success stats of 91.1% and that will have made Pep sit up and take notice as ball retention is so important to the Spanish manager.

Rodri is player with an excellent first touch and has great awareness. In many ways he reminds me of a young Sergio Busquets, a player who became a pivotal player for FC Barcelona during Guardiola’s days at the Camp Nou.

The value of bringing in Rodri this season is also very significant. £62.6m isn’t overly expensive in this current transfer market, especially for a young Spanish international with experience playing in the Champions League.

The timing is also very important. Bringing in the young Spaniard now gives the player time to settle in at the Etihad and City boss Pep likes to bring in top youngsters and give them time to settle into their surroundings. He understands that young players take time to get used to foreign leagues and that’s why he gave players like Bernardo Silva and Aymeric Laporte less starts in their early days at Man City. They learned from the bench and then came in knowing what to do after being gradually exposed to the rigours of the Premier League.

Get Rodri in now and you still have Fernandinho in your side that he can learn from.

The player is also pretty unassuming off the pitch and that’s another trait that Pep Guardiola will appreciate.

Manchester City are brilliant at spotting gaps within their squad and plugging them during transfer windows before it becomes an absolute priority.

If they sign up Rodri then they’ll have another top class defensive minded midfielder. He can come in and learn from Fernandinho and go onto become one of the world’s best holding midfielders and strengthening City’s spine for years to come!

Posted on June 19th, 2019 by scott
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