Chris Sutton has claimed Manchester City would not be the same team they are now if they didn’t have Rodri.
The Spaniard recently ended his latest season with the Citizens in the best way possible having scored the winning goal in the Champions League final that secured the treble.
This has since led to one pundit sharing his thoughts on the midfielder and why he deserves praise alongside some of his City teammates.
Sutton praises Rodri
Speaking on a recent episode of BBC Radio 5 Live’s Football Daily podcast, Sutton had this to say when asked about Rodri and his efforts in the final.
He said: “He’s one of those players in the team, in the squad, we know what Pep Guardiola thinks about him because he’s virtually an ever-present but when people talk about Manchester City this season it’s always been about [Erling] Haaland, about [Kevin] De Bruyne, [Jack] Grealish has had a big season, [Ilkay] Gundogan as of late, but he just gets on with his job.
“We know how important the goal was but it’s his role within the team and how well he plays it, he’s so disciplined, he keeps things ticking over and quite frankly, without him in the team, they wouldn’t be the same.”
In addition to scoring the winning goal in City’s 1-0 win over Inter Milan on Saturday, Rodri was named as the Champions League Player of the Season following the final in Istanbul.
Having played more minutes in the Premier League this season than any other outfield player at City, this backs up what Sutton said about how important the 26-year-old is for the team.
Taking into account how the Spain international ended his latest league campaign as the fourth-highest rated outfield player in Guardiola’s squad with an overall performance rating of 7.26/10 from WhoScored, it’s clear why the midfielder has got so much playing time and why he has been praised by Sutton.
With that, the midfielder ended the campaign with more progressive passes (260), recoveries (301) and aerial duels won (72) than any other City player, as well as having the highest combined total of tackles and interceptions (100) at the club.
Moving forward, if Rodri can keep performing at a high level on a consistent basis next season, he’ll definitely give his side a great chance of regaining the trophies they’ve won this time around.
