Manchester City Are Losing Rodri at the Worst Possible Time
- Footdudes
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
Manchester City could hardly have picked a more complicated moment to lose Rodri.
The midfielder is set to leave the club for Barcelona after City reportedly accepted a £65.4 million offer, bringing an end to a seven-year spell in Manchester. Rodri arrived from Atlético Madrid in 2019 and went on to become one of the defining players of Pep Guardiola's era, winning four Premier League titles, the Champions League and the 2024 Ballon d'Or among 12 major honours.
Ordinarily, losing a player of that importance would be difficult enough. City's situation is more complicated because Rodri's departure comes at the same time as the club is beginning a new managerial era under Enzo Maresca and reshaping a midfield that has already undergone significant change.
Maresca has inherited a team that no longer looks like the Manchester City that dominated English football for so long. Rodri is leaving, Bernardo Silva is no longer there, and Tijjani Reijnders is also expected to depart. At the same time, City have spent heavily on Elliot Anderson and are reportedly closing in on teenage midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi.
That makes the Rodri transfer much more than the loss of one player. It is one of the clearest signs that Manchester City are moving into a different era.
Replacing Rodri is not really the problem
The natural question after Rodri's departure is who will replace him.
Manchester City have already spent £116 million on Elliot Anderson, while reports continue to link the club with Bouaddi and Chelsea's Enzo Fernández. Anderson's arrival was officially confirmed in July, with City handing the England international a five-year contract after two seasons at Nottingham Forest.
Those players may eventually help fill the space Rodri leaves behind, but expecting any of them to simply reproduce what Rodri gave City would be unrealistic.
Rodri was not valuable only because of his passing or his defensive positioning. He understood how to control the rhythm of a match, when to accelerate possession and when to slow it down, where to position himself when City lost the ball and how to provide security behind more attacking players.
That combination is extremely difficult to buy.
It is also why City's recruitment strategy is so interesting. Rather than looking for one midfielder who can perform every part of Rodri's role, they appear to be building a group of players who can collectively provide different elements of what the Spaniard offered.
Elliot Anderson could be more important than people realise
Anderson is an interesting starting point because City did not spend £116 million on him simply to sit in Rodri's old position.
The 23-year-old developed into a box-to-box midfielder at Nottingham Forest and was a regular throughout his two seasons at the club. Manchester City have therefore bought a player whose profile is different from Rodri's, which could tell us something about how Maresca wants his midfield to operate.
Anderson can cover ground, carry the ball and contribute further forward, giving City an athleticism that was not always central to their midfield during Guardiola's peak years.
That could become particularly useful under Maresca.
If City attempt to compensate for Rodri's absence by making the midfield more mobile rather than simply replacing his position, Anderson could become one of the most important players in the squad.
The challenge will be making sure that mobility does not come at the expense of control.
Bouaddi suggests City are thinking beyond this season
The reported pursuit of Ayyoub Bouaddi makes the rebuild even more interesting.
The 18-year-old Lille midfielder has emerged as one of the club's major targets, with City reportedly negotiating over a deal that could be worth around £85 million. Reuters reports that City are close to finalising the move, while other reporting has described Bouaddi as a potential successor to Rodri.
Whether Bouaddi is ready to immediately take responsibility for Manchester City's midfield is another question entirely.
He may be an exceptional prospect, but City cannot approach the 2026-27 season expecting an 18-year-old to reproduce the influence of a Ballon d'Or-winning midfielder.
That means Maresca may have to build the midfield around a combination of experience, athleticism and potential rather than relying on one player to take Rodri's place.
That is a very different proposition from simply finding another defensive midfielder.
The Community Shield exposed the timing of the problem
The timing is particularly awkward because City have already had a reminder of how much work lies ahead.
Arsenal defeated them 3-0 in the Community Shield on Sunday, with City beginning their competitive campaign under Maresca with a heavy defeat. Rodri was absent from the match as he continued his recovery from back surgery, while Maresca subsequently confirmed that City intend to remain active in the transfer market.
The result itself should not be overinterpreted.
A Community Shield defeat does not tell us where City will finish in May.
But the match did underline the scale of the transition. Arsenal looked settled, while City are still trying to establish how their new midfield and their new manager's ideas fit together.
That is why Rodri's departure is arriving at such an inconvenient time.
Maresca has to create something different
Maresca's biggest challenge is not finding Rodri's replacement. It is developing a midfield that suits the football he wants Manchester City to play.
His teams are generally built around positional structure, controlled possession and carefully managed spaces. That requires players who understand not just where they should receive the ball, but where they need to be when possession is lost.
Rodri was exceptional at those details.
Maresca now has to distribute that responsibility among several players.
That could eventually make City more unpredictable. Anderson can provide running power, Bouaddi could offer technical quality and long-term development, while another established midfielder could bring the positional discipline required to protect the defence.
The problem is that these relationships cannot be created simply by signing players.
They have to be developed on the pitch.
City's transfer spending makes the decision even more interesting
There is another layer to this rebuild that deserves attention.
Manchester City have already spent £116 million on Anderson and are reportedly prepared to invest heavily in Bouaddi. They have also been linked with Enzo Fernández, although Chelsea's valuation would make that an extremely expensive deal.
The club therefore have a choice.
They can spend another enormous fee on an established midfielder and try to accelerate the transition, or they can trust the players already arriving and accept that the new midfield will take time to develop.
Neither approach is without risk.
Spending heavily on another established player could create an incredibly expensive midfield without guaranteeing that the underlying tactical problem has been solved. On the other hand, asking Anderson and Bouaddi to carry the responsibility immediately could leave City vulnerable during the most difficult part of the season.
Maresca's ability to find the balance may ultimately determine how quickly Manchester City recover from the loss of Rodri.
Barcelona may have solved a problem at City's expense
From Barcelona's perspective, the move is remarkably straightforward.
They are getting an experienced midfielder who understands positional football, has played at the highest level for years and already knows what it takes to operate in Spain's possession-heavy environment.
Rodri's arrival also gives Barcelona another experienced leader in midfield and potentially helps address the loss of control that the club have experienced since Sergio Busquets' departure.
For City, however, the transfer represents something completely different.
They are losing the player around whom so much of their midfield structure was built just as they are trying to establish a new identity.
That is why the £65.4 million fee may eventually prove less important than the timing of the transfer itself.
Manchester City do not need another Rodri. They need a new midfield
The temptation will be to judge every City midfielder against Rodri during the coming season.
That would be unfair to the players and probably unhelpful to Maresca.
Manchester City cannot recreate the midfield that helped them dominate English football for so long. Too many of the players, relationships and circumstances that made that system work have changed.
The more sensible approach is to build something different.
Anderson can bring energy and physicality. Bouaddi could eventually provide technical quality and composure. Other midfielders can take responsibility for defensive positioning and progression. Maresca then has to combine those qualities into a system that gives City enough control without making them dependent on one player.
That process will take time.
The problem for Manchester City is that their rivals are not going to give them much of it.
Arsenal have already beaten them in the Community Shield and enter the new Premier League season with a settled squad and a manager who has been in place for years. City, meanwhile, are beginning a new chapter with a new manager and a midfield that is being rebuilt almost from scratch.
Rodri's departure therefore does not mean Manchester City's era of dominance is over.
It does mean that the club have reached one of the most significant rebuilding points of the Guardiola era and beyond.
The answer will not come from finding another Rodri.
It will come from discovering what Manchester City look like without him.
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