Jamie Carragher has said that Rodri may have been more important to Manchester City than Erling Haaland during their treble-winning season.
The pundit opted for the Manchester City midfielder in his EA FC 24 Team of The Year on Sky Sports (via their YouTube channel).
Recently, Jamie Carragher made a bold statement by claiming that Arsenal’s Declan Rice is better than the Spanish international.
Jamie Carragher says Rodri may have been more important to Manchester City than Erling Haaland last season
Considering Pep Guardiola’s side has shown a tendency to be able to fire on all cylinders without the presence of key players, there has always been a debate about who is their most important player.
However, ever since last season, it seems like many believe the answer is the former Atletico Madrid anchor, who signed for City in a deal worth £63 million (Daily Mail) in 2019.
Now, Jamie Carragher believes the same about Rodri, especially last season and has said that there is a case that he might have been more key to Manchester City than Erling Haaland.
“Obviously, you’d have [Erling] Haaland but last season, you could argue Rodri was probably Manchester City’s most important player, best player, he gets the winning goal in the [Champions League] final”, he told Sky Sports.
“And as I said, you see how good a player he is when he’s not playing, you [Kelly Cates] said that. You think of who Manchester City have had there before under Pep Guardiola, you’d say Fernandinho, who’s one of the best we’ve seen in that role and then, next one you bring in is Rodri and he’s outstanding.”
The fact that Rodri is even in the same conversation as a forward in this respect is impressive
Rodri should pat himself on the back that Jamie Carragher believes he may have been as crucial, if not more than Erling Haaland to this Manchester City side, especially last season.
Considering Haaland is one of the most prolific goalscorers in the world, often, understated figures like the 27-year-old would not be considered even half as key as the former as their work tends to go unnoticed.
But Rodri seems to shine through regardless and it is a credit to his magnificence that he has been rightly put in the same breath as the Norwegian in terms of his importance to City.
