Before Jorginho first made his move to the Premier League to sign for Chelsea, Pep Guardiola admitted he was nearing a transfer to Manchester City.
In 2018, Guardiola said via Sky Sports: “We were close but in the end Jorginho decided to stay with [Maurizio] Sarri [from Napoli at Chelsea].”
“I’ve said before that I want players who want to come here. He didn’t want that. We tried, we believed it was done but at the last turn, he decided on Chelsea.”
At the time, Manchester City still had Fernandinho in their ranks, who was one of the best holding midfielders in the world.
A season later, City managed to secure the services of Rodri as the long-term heir to the Brazilian.
Fernandinho heaped praise on Rodri after he won the Ballon d’Or for the player he has transformed into since his early days in Pep Guardiola’s side.
While Guardiola likened Rodri to Lionel Messi in terms of his importance to this City side.
- READ MORE: Who is Rodri? Get to know Man City’s modest midfield maestro who won a Champions League final
Jorginho hails “really, really good” Rodri
Manchester City would ultimately been happy with how their vision to replace the veteran panned out.
Even Carlos Baleba raved about Rodri as “the best player in the world” and played down being compared to the latter by admitting that he is a “schoolkid” in comparison to him.
When quizzed about which defensive midfielders he admires, Jorginho named Rodri first.
The Arsenal conductor told Rio Ferdinand: Presents’ YouTube channel: “Rodri, for sure. Rodri’s been massive.”
Jorginho added: “He’s very clever and he’s very physical as well, which helps him. And he’s always in the right moment, he doesn’t like to put himself in trouble, he does the simple things to help the team and he’s been quite efficient in the opposition box, [scores] important goals.”
“So, I think he’s been really, really good.”
Other defensive midfielders such as Joao Palhinha also hailed Rodri as the best player in the world in his position.
Even Marc Cucurella highlighted Rodri’s brilliance by stressing that “he controls everything” in training for Spain and in general; stating that his importance has been emphasised by Manchester City’s poor form.
Declan Rice said Rodri is the best defensive midfielder in the world
Jorginho is not the only Arsenal player who rates the Spaniard highly, with Declan Rice singling Rodri out as arguably the best sitting midfielder in world football.
In March, Rice said: “You look at the best sixes in the world, obviously, Man City, Rodri, arguably the best, how he plays, how he’s always central, how he always connects between the backline and the forward players, how he’s always in the middle of the pitch, you’re always trying to learn and be that main player.”
Rice praised Rodri once again in March when reflecting on bumping into him on holiday in Ibiza.
The Englishman said: “He was with a group of friends and we were next to him and as footballers, when you see other footballers out, you always end up talking and it was great to talk to him. I’m a big admirer of him.”
“Like I just said to you before, we started speaking, people are always going to compare us. That’s what people have to talk about and write about but I don’t see it as that. I’m a great admirer of his game.”
“He’s playing for Man City, I’m playing for Arsenal, we’re battling it out. He’s a fantastic player, he plays game after game, he’s got the trophies to his name as well, I’ll never say a bad word about him.”
Rodri commands respects from his peers, which is the true sign of a world-class player.
