£15m player suggests that he regrets signing for Man City after ‘difficult’ spell 

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Since the 2008 Abu Dhabi takeover, Manchester City have seen a wide range of players make moves in and out of the club.

Not only that but a few managers have been and gone as well as the plethora of players who have represented City over the past 16 years.

However, having had Pep Guardiola in charge at the Etihad Stadium since 2016, he has used a total of 91 players throughout his reign at the Manchester club.

To highlight how far the Blues have come since their mid-table period pre-takeover, they became the first side to win four consecutive Premier League trophies last season.

More recently, the club saw Rodri win the 2024 Ballon d’Or, making him the first City player to do so.

Now though, a forgotten face from the club’s recent history, prior to Guardiola’s arrival, has opened up about his time as a City player.

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Jack Rodwell opens up on ‘difficult’ Man City move

Appearing in a recent video shared on the Optus Sport YouTube channel, Jack Rodwell gave this response when asked about the particular period of time in his spell at City when Manuel Pellegrini replaced Roberto Mancini as the club’s manager.

He said: “That was a hard one for me because obviously Mancini signed me, by the way this is part and parcel of football, new managers come in, new players come in, that’s just part of it.

“But for me, at that age, it was difficult because I’d gone from playing a lot at Everton and when I was fit Mancini played me as much as I could.

“He was always doing work with me in the video room and then obviously Pellegrini comes in and he signed Fernandinho and it was a little bit more difficult for me to take not playing.

“But it is what it is, he’s actually a good manager he won the league.”

Rodwell was then asked if he regrets making his £15m move to City back in 2012 (via The Guardian), saying this in response.

He said: “It’s hard to say that because if you put me in the same position again, probably. [It] did just come off the back of winning the league, the [Sergio] Aguero goal.

“That’s another thing there was the competition was crazy, you had Yaya Toure, Gareth Barry, it was crazy, David Silva was there.

“To be honest though it was one of them, I actually was away [in] preseason with Everton and I got pulled in by the manager [David] Moyes at the time I was a bit a little less scared of him then but he said listen we’ve had, I already knew actually but he said we’ve had an offer off Man City he said and it kind of suits everyone.

“The club at that time probably needed the money, I think it was £15m at the time so it kind of suited everyone really so at the time the move made sense for everyone.

“I never once handed in a transfer request or I never heard my voice saying I want to leave, I never did anything like that.

“It was purely, we got an offer, how do you feel about it, I’d spoken to my agent, my family and we were all excited about it and he said it’s all good for the club so it made sense.”

Rodwell’s record at City

In his debut season at the club, Rodwell made just 15 appearances across all competitions, six of which he started, due to being out most of the time with injuries.

After that, as he mentioned, Pellegrini took over following Mancini’s departure, although the Chilean only started the midfielder in just four of the 10 matches he featured in across all competitions.

Two years after his arrival, Rodwell was sold to Sunderland in a deal worth £10m (via The Guardian), bringing an end to what was a disastrous spell with the Citizens.

Now that the 33-year-old – who is currently without a club – has shared how it wasn’t just the injuries that he found difficult to deal with at City but also how the change from Mancini to Pellegrini also disrupted him, this should make it clearer as to why he didn’t succeed at the Manchester club.