Perfect Rodri replacement: £50m star wants to sign for Man City today

Manchester City aside, all of the top teams this season have found a lot of success in their midfield configurations.

Liverpool manager Arne Slot will have been positively surprised with the contributions of Ryan Gravenberch at the base of midfield while Enzo Maresca has the likes of Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernández in good form. As for Mikel Arteta, he has £100m man Declan Rice at his disposal.

Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola’s main man, Rodri, has been out injured since their 2-2 draw with Arsenal earlier in the season. This has seen a poor drop-off in form for Manchester City in the Premier League, now sitting fourth on 41 points, 15 points off first-place Liverpool.

This lack of midfield strength has coincided with City’s form, and therefore, Guardiola could be given another midfielder this month in order to strengthen his side for the second half of the season, in order to compete for Champions League qualification.

£50m player now wants to sign for Manchester City

According to reports from journalist Graeme Bailey, Porto midfielder Nico Gonzalez and Manchester City have held talks over a move, with the Citizens considering paying the £50.1m release clause in the midfielder’s contract.

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The report also states terms on a “long-term deal” have already been agreed while crucially, the player has already told his club that he now wants to seal a move to the Etihad in February.

The 23-year-old is a versatile midfielder, playing as a deep-lying midfielder in front of the defence, but has also played as a box-to-box midfielder and even as the most advanced midfielder, playing closer to the striker in the forward line.

Gonzalez has made 29 appearances so far this season, scoring seven goals, providing six assists and totalling 2,363 minutes played.

How Gonzalez compares to Rodri

Rodri’s importance to Guardiola’s City side has always been prevalent, breaking records for unbeaten streaks whilst in the side, having a far superior record with him in the team than without, and the clear demise they have suffered since his injury occurred this campaign.

So, it would take someone pretty special to be able to replace the Ballon d’Or winner but in Gonzalez, they may well have their man.

When comparing Rodri and Gonzalez’s underlying metrics, you can see that Rodri is, of course, far superior in many metrics, but Gonzalez has the foundations to translate well into the City side, with good passing numbers, and high defensive actions in midfield areas whilst also offering output too.

Gonzalez has been claimed to have the potential to become “better than Pedri” by Iago Aspas back in 2021, withboth players coming through the ranks at Barcelona. He was also described as a “real diamond” by scout Jacek Kulig.

The introduction of the Porto star for City would provide an instant impact midfielder who can replace Rodri as the sitting number six until he returns, but then also co-exist in the side alongside Rodri, playing as a more advanced box-to-box number eight, when the Ballon D’or winner does return.