Manchester City have been dealt some big injury blows in the first few weeks of their 2024/25 season.
In addition to having the likes of Oscar Bobb, Kevin De Bruyne and Nathan Ake out injured, City have also seen one of their other key players get ruled out for the rest of the season.
Specifically, after suffering a knee issue in the 2-2 draw against Arsenal, Rodri will now be out of action for the remainder of the campaign as a result of having surgery to fix his ACL injury.
Even though the Manchester club don’t usually sign players and add them to their squad during January transfer windows, some behind-the-scenes details have come to light regarding one player the Blues could buck this particular trend for as a result of Rodri’s injury blow.
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Man City eyeing transfer move for Rodri replacement
According to a recent report from Football Transfers, City have Porto midfielder Alan Varela on a list of potential targets for the upcoming January window.
The report also adds that the Manchester club have had scouts watching the Argentine, who has a release clause in his contract worth €70m (£58m), in action recently.
Back in September, once the full extent of Rodri’s injury were made clear, Guardiola said that he had spoken with Txiki Begiristain about the possibility of signing a new midfielder in January, although a decision on the matter would likely be made further down the line.
What would Varela offer Man City on the pitch?
After working his way through the youth ranks at Boca Juniors and making 111 senior appearances for the Argentina club, Varela joined Porto back in the 2023 summer transfer window.
Since then, the 23-year-old has made 53 appearances for his current side across all competitions, scoring two goals and delivering four assists along the way, which is the same amount of goals and assists he supplied during his time in Boca’s first team.
In his debut league campaign with Porto, Varela appeared in 30 matches in total.
The Argentine finished the season with more passes into the final third of the pitch (176) than any other Porto player.
He also made more blocks (32) than any of his teammates and racked up the joint-highest combined total of tackles and interceptions (59) at the club as well as not making any errors that led to an opponent having a shot at goal.
This shows just what Varela would be able to offer City on and off the ball if they end up landing a deal for him in the upcoming January transfer window.
