Manuel Akanji has now heaped praise on his Manchester City teammate Rodri as he prepares to return from his ban.
The Switzerland international made the comments when speaking to Sky Sports.
So, what did Manuel Akanji say about Rodri? Let’s take a look…
What’s the story?
Well, the £15m man thinks very highly of the Spain international.
Akanji said: “In his position you get everything. He’s good defensively, wins a lot of duels, he barely loses the ball. It happens sometimes but he can keep the ball for such a long time. He can play these passes in behind for our wingers or the full-backs.
“He’s really calm on the ball, he always wants the ball from us defenders when we have it at the back. So it’s basically everything that we need in this position and that’s why I think we need him a lot in there.”
Manchester City certainly do seem to “need” Rodri in the middle of the park.
Having previously looked untouchable after winning a historic treble last season, Pep Guardiola’s side suddenly appeared average without the £220,000-a-week man in midfield after he was sent off in the 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest.
Rodri consequently picked up a three-game ban, and remarkably, Manchester City lost all three of those outings.
The Citizens first suffered a 1-0 defeat to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup Third Round, before losing 2-1 and 1-0 to Wolves and Arsenal respectively in the Premier League.
Manchester City seemingly aware of need for Rodri cover
As talented as they all are, Mateo Kovacic, Rico Lewis or Kalvin Phillips all failed to prove they can replicate what Rodri brings to Guardiola’s side in his absence.
As a result, Manchester City appear to be on the lookout for someone similar to the Spain international – with Benfica No.87 Joao Neves in their sights.
According to Graeme Bailey on the Talking Transfers podcast, Manchester City are actually in pole position to sign the Portugal international.
There aren’t many areas of Guardiola’s squad in need of improvement, but finding suitable cover for Rodri appears to be on the recruitment team’s agenda.
