Liam Rosenior believes Pep Guardiola considers Rodri as a “more important” player to his Manchester City side than Kevin De Bruyne.
The pundit believes the Spanish international is “the glue” of this City side as opposed to De Bruyne, who he described as “the gravy” while speaking to Premier League Productions.
In December, Rio Ferdinand emphasised the 27-year-old, who signed for the Sky Blues for a £63 million (Daily Mail) fee in 2019 is the only player at the Etihad Stadium who is truly “irreplaceable.”
Liam Rosenior says Pep Guardiola would consider Rodri “more important” than Kevin De Bruyne
Considering the pair are considered arguably the best in the world in their positions, they are both extremely key to City’s success.
However, it seems like the popular opinion remains that Rodri would be a bigger miss than any other player at the club.
Liam Rosenior believes that is the case, going as far as to say that Pep Guardiola would privately view Rodri as more key to his Manchester City team than Kevin De Bruyne.
“They’re both important but I think Rodri is the glue and De Bruyne is the gravy. It’s as simple as that. It’s all those things that people don’t notice from a midfield player, we just saw De Bruyne’s goal [against Newcastle] and who gives him the ball? Rodri. I think from Pep Guardiola’s point of view, he sees keeping Rodri on the pitch more important than De Bruyne.”
Manchester City have a backup for Kevin De Bruyne
Unlike in the case of Rodri, there is a backup for Kevin De Bruyne at Manchester City in Phil Foden, who is also an excellent attacking midfielder, which is an aspect Liam Rosenior perhaps failed to focus on.
The decision to sign Kalvin Phillips, on the other hand, seems destined to go down as one of the club’s poorest pieces of business since their takeover in 2008. As a result, when Rodri is unavailable, neither does Phillips tend to do the business, nor is he often trusted to deputise in his absence.
As for Kevin De Bruyne, when he was injured, not just Phil Foden but even Julian Alvarez impressed in the hole behind the striker, which means his absence would not have been as felt as in Rodri’s case.
Regardless, both De Bruyne and Rodri are hugely important to the Sky Blues and will remain crucial to their side’s goal of triumphing on multiple fronts once again this season.
