Trent Alexander-Arnold has said that Manchester City midfielder Rodri is a player he greatly admires, and someone he feels is ‘massively underrated’.
The international break has now commenced and many of City’s stars will be jetting off to join up with their national teams.
Rodri – who cost around City £63 million – will be in action for Spain, with their final Euro 2024 qualifiers against Cyprus and Georgia coming up this week.
Hopefully, Rodri can come through unscathed because this season has highlighted just how vital he is to City.
This is not lost on Liverpool full-back Alexander-Arnold, who reckons the 27-year-old is ‘pivotal’ for Pep Guardiola…
Trent Alexander-Arnold claims Manchester City star Rodri is ‘massively underrated’
This season, Rodri has been superb once again for City.
He picked up a needless red card against Nottingham Forest before the last international break, resulting in him missing three games.
City lost all the games he was not available for. It became clear during that tricky period just how influential he is.
In the eyes of Alexander-Arnold, he is so key for City and still not completely rated as perhaps he should be.
The 25-year-old, who has recently started to play in midfield himself at Anfield, said (via Daily Mail): “I admire Rodri. He is pivotal to City and massively underrated. They are not the same without him.”
Just last week, Pep himself said that he could not deny how important Rodri was to him.
Josko Gvardiol also said recently that Rodri blows him away with how he’s able to control the ball.
Rodri is the best holding midfielder out there right now
It is nice to hear Trent complimenting Rodri like this. He is probably not the only top player to hold views like this about the City maestro.
Somehow, it does still feel as though Rodri is underrated. He does absolutely everything you could want your holding midfielder to do. He even offers a genuine attacking threat now, as evidenced by the four goals and five assists he’s got so far this term.
In the last year or so his profile has increased considerably. He played a colossal role in City’s Treble win, and him coming fifth in the 2023 Ballon d’Or just shows the high regard in which he is held.
City are very lucky to have a player like him. He is definitely the gold standard when it comes to holding midfielders in football.
