Man City expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany tells Sports Mole that he can envisage the Citizens signing a £30m midfielder in January if they decide to recruit a replacement for injured star Rodri.
Manchester City expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany can envisage the reigning Premier League champions signing a £30m player if they decide to recruit a new midfielder in January to fill the void left behind by injured star Rodri.
The Citizens were left stunned by the unfortunate news that Rodri will miss the rest of the 2024-25 season after suffering knee ligament damage in the 2-2 Premier League draw with title rivals Arsenal last month.
Rodri has since undergone surgery and City will have to cope without arguably their most influential player for “a long, long time”, according to manager Pep Guardiola.
The Catalan coach has admitted that Rodri is “irreplaceable” but he has refused to rule out the possibility of the Citizens delving into the January transfer market to sign a new midfielder.
Man City have been linked with several midfielders both in the summer and since confirmation of Rodri’s injury, with Newcastle United‘s Bruno Guimaraes believed to have been admired by Guardiola’s side for some time.
The likes of Bayern Munich‘s Joshua Kimmich, Barcelona‘s Frenkie de Jong and Crystal Palace‘s Adam Wharton have also been tipped to potentially make the move to the Etihad Stadium, while a move for Torino‘s Samuele Ricci has been mooted in recent weeks.
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Ricci on Man City’s radar ahead of January?
A recent report claims that Man City are considering whether to make a move for Ricci when the winter transfer window opens, with Torino valuing the 23-year-old at around £30m.
Calciomercato, meanwhile, claim that Citizens scouts will be present at Torino’s clash with Serie A champions Inter Milan on Saturday evening.
Ricci is a four-cap Italy international who has spent almost three years at Torino, where he has been central to their surprise ascent towards the top of Serie A, excelling in a holding midfield role and starting in each of their opening six league matches.
McInerney, who has likened Ricci to Italian duo Andrea Pirlo and Marco Verratti, believes City will not sign an ‘established’ player in January, but a “sensible” move for a cheaper alternative such as Torino’s No.28 cannot be ruled out.
Speaking to Sports Mole, McInerney said: “I think City can get a cheaper short-term fix that’s also a long-term fix. Someone like Samuele Ricci… He’s 5ft 10in. He’s 23 years old. He’s a really technical player, very comfortable at getting the ball from the defenders and dictating play.
“There’s a little bit of [Andrea] Pirlo to him, a little bit of [Marco] Verratti. You can understand that Italian influence. Then there’s also a little bit of [Ilkay] Gundogan to his game while being pretty mobile and the kind of player you don’t really notice. That’s great, that isn’t Rodri, but I understand the appeal there.
McInerney: ‘Ricci addition would be sensible in January’
“I would prefer [City to sign] a more established player, but it’s not going to happen in January. You’re not going to be able to get Bruno [Guimaraes] or even [Joshua] Kimmich, someone like that in January, because those clubs are just going to say no until the summer, and understandably so.
“If City go for someone now, it’ll be a £30m player like [Ricci], somebody who’s 23 and who could spend the next six months learning while also not being essential to the starting team.”
McInerney added: “I don’t think Guardiola would suddenly lean on Samuele Ricci if he came in. I think he’d obviously lean on Gundogan, [Mateo] Kovacic, Bernardo [Silva], but he’d probably be ready for the next season to be more involved. He would still play him, of course, but it would take time for him to get anywhere near up to speed to Manchester City’s level.
“I personally find the appeal of signing a 23-year-old much more exciting – a hungry 23-year-old whose career is on the up right now. I think that’s a sensible January thing, and let’s be honest, I know [£30m] is a lot of money, but for Manchester City, it isn’t extortionate.
“I think the expectation levels are lower (signing a player with that valuation) than signing an £80m player, and I think it allows patience and time, it gives that balance, and it gives something that maybe City haven’t fully got.
“[Ricci] looks a lot calmer than Kovacic, I would say. Kovacic is great on the ball, but he’s a different kind of midfielder, he’s more of a cultured, deep-lying midfielder… [Ricci] could get up to speed with the more physical side of the Premier League, so someone like him potentially (could be targeted by City).”
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‘Rodri is freakishly talented and irreplaceable’
McInerney still believed that Man City face an impossible task replacing a player of Rodri’s quality, adding: “I don’t think there’s any solution. Whoever comes in, I still don’t think they’re going to be nearly close to the level of Rodri.
“Rodri is such an absurdly unique player. His defensive capabilities, how he reads the game, intercepting passes, always picking up the right man, the way that he wins headers because he’s 6ft 3in, stops teams going long against us. Then, of course, as well creatively, the fact that he can pick up the ball between the centre-backs, he always picks the right choice of pass, he’s press resistant, he can dink it 20 to 30 yards over the backline and play those diagonals in behind that set the wingers free which leads to so many goals, or he can put it in the top corner from 20 to 30 yards with either foot.
“Rodri is a freakishly talented player. There is no one in world football, in my opinion, that can do all those things frequently in every game to that high level… If you give Guardiola an unlimited budget to sign anyone, I don’t think there’s anyone who’s that complete. You can get great defensive midfielders or great attacking midfielders, but there’s no one who can do it like Rodri.
“Guardiola could sign [Aurelien] Tchouameni (from Real Madrid), he could sign Kimmich, he could sign Declan Rice (now at Arsenal), but these guys still can’t do what Rodri can do. I feel really strongly about that, that they’d still take the time to learn what Guardiola wants, and they would look like a seven or eight out of 10 version of the 10 out of 10 Rodri.”
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Will Guardiola experiment with midfield options in Rodri absence?
In the short term leading up to January, McInerney has discussed a few Man City players within Guardiola’s current squad who could fill the void left by Rodri.
“Rodri is a 10, an eight, a six, or he can even be a centre-back, he’s that special. The only way you can get close to him is a combination. [Ilkay] Gundogan can play those dinked passes over the back, but he can’t defend the second balls like Rodri, so maybe [Manuel] Akanji or [John] Stones could play alongside him, or something like that. You have to have two or three players to make one.
“City, essentially, will have to compromise a little bit and that is a shame. When you’ve got one guy who can do everything, it means you can have two attacking midfielders ahead of you. So City will [now] have less quality without Rodri.
“Guardiola will find solutions. It won’t be optimal, but it’ll be something creative, because that’s what Guardiola thrives in and a small part of Guardiola probably appreciates that challenge, and I think his quotes afterwards were telling. He said something along the lines of ‘there’s no point in moaning, we have to crack on, this is football, it happens, it’s done, just accept it, move on, and we’ll find a solution’
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Will Akanji, Stones, Lewis step into midfield?
“I don’t know what it will be. I think it’ll be a combination of players that he’ll try. He tried Rico Lewis in midfield against Newcastle. I don’t think it quite work personally. I think Rico is better joining the midfield as opposed to being in the midfield. Right-back is still Rico’s position.
“Something along the lines of Akanji or Stones stepping up a little bit to support either Bernardo, Gundogan or Kovacic [is possible], and then we’ll see what he does with [Kevin] De Bruyne and Phil Foden.
“[Rodri’s injury is] a huge blow, because there’s no one like him. Even though we have individual qualities in different players that can be replicated, we can’t complete that player and I think we’ll have to accept that as City fans.”
Man City have won two and drawn one of their last three games without Rodri in their side, most recently cruising to a 4-0 victory away against Slovan Bratislava in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Guardiola and co have drawn their last two Premier League games, including last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Newcastle United, and they will endeavour to return to winning ways at home against Fulham on Saturday before the international break.