Graeme Souness believes Rodri is already one of the best midfielders in Premier League history.
The 27-year-old etched his name into the history books after Manchester City’s 3-1 win against Manchester United, becoming the first player in the league’s history to have been unbeaten in 59 games across all competitions.
The Spanish international’s legacy is strengthening week by week, with Rio Ferdinand recently claiming that he is already superior to his former teammate and Manchester United legend Michael Carrick.
Graeme Souness says Rodri is already one of the best midfielders in Premier League history
Often, the conversation around the treble-winner is whether he is the best holding midfielder in the world, with Jamie Carragher stating that Declan Rice has the “edge” over him.
However, last month, even an active player in the English top-flight like Joao Palhinha claimed that the £63 million (Daily Mail) man is the best number six in the world.
Graeme Souness believes the same about Rodri, while also naming him amongst the midfield greats to have graced the Premier League.
“I think Rodri, right now is the best holding midfield player in our country certainly, really like him”, he said on talkSPORT.
“Well, Paul Scholes, Frank Lampard, you’ve got to throw Yaya Toure in there, Kevin De Bruyne, we’ve mentioned, I really like Rodri that’s there now, Steven Gerrard, enough for now.”
Rodri will end his time in the Premier League as one of the undisputed midfield greats
Perhaps some may disagree with Graeme Souness and claim that it is too early for Rodri to be regarded as one of the Premier League’s greatest-ever midfielders.
After all, the decorated midfielder only joined Manchester City in 2019, while the likes of Paul Scholes, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard played in the Premier League for a decade.
However, as time passes and Rodri continues to dominate, such debates will be over and done with, in our view, as they were with other such modern-day greats like Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah.
A factor that could play a part in the former Atletico Madrid anchor’s legacy ageing gracefully is how long he continues to remain arguably the best in the world in his position, which is quite rare for a Premier League player across all eras and regardless of where they are stationed on the pitch.
If Rodri continues to remain at the level he currently is at or finds a way to miraculously elevate his game, it will become undeniable that he is up there with names like Patrick Vieira, Roy Keane and Yaya Toure to name a few as one of the greatest midfielders in Premier League history.
