Manchester City star Rodri has established himself as one of the best midfielders in European football in recent years.
After finishing fifth in the 2023 Ballon d’Or rankings, the midfielder then went on to help City win a fourth consecutive Premier League trophy and take Spain to the final of the 2024 European Championship.
Ahead of this big game between Spain and England, one former Premier League star has shared his verdict on Rodri and even made a claim about how he compares to former Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets.
- READ MORE: Who is Rodri? Get to know Man City’s modest midfield maestro who won a Champions League final
Wayne Rooney says Rodri is better than Sergio Busquets in one specific area
While previewing Sunday’s final in a recent column for The Times, Rooney said this about Rodri and how he compares to Busquets.
He said: “The heartbeat of this Spanish team is Rodri. He is similar to one of the very, very best players I played against in my career, Sergio Busquets. Except Rodri is probably better going forward.
“He has scored some big goals for Manchester City and he gets Spain playing. England can’t give him that time on the ball, because if he gets it he can hurt you and dictate the game.”
Rodri is a goal threat
Throughout his playing career, Busquets has scored 19 goals and delivered 52 assists in 768 senior club appearances.
In comparison, Rodri has found the back of the net 31 times and supplied 37 assists in 488 senior club games.
This highlights how much of a goal threat the City star, who Dani Vivian recently said should have won a Ballon d’Or by now, is compared to Busquets.
Looking back over the previous Premier League campaign, the Spain international had 62 shots at goal in total, which is more than the likes of Marcus Rashford (60), Gabriel Martinelli (58) and Dejan Kulusevski (57) racked up throughout the campaign.
With Rodri proving himself to be a real goal threat for City, this further highlights what he’s able to offer his side.
