Manchester City coach Enzo Maresca said the club need to find a “new Rodri” following the departure of their midfield linchpin.
The World Cup and Ballon d’Or winner this week joined Barcelona after seven highly influential seasons at the Etihad Stadium, during which his successes included four Premier League titles and the Champions League.
His departure leaves a significant void in the squad Maresca has inherited from Pep Guardiola, but the Italian is confident it can be filled.
“I’ll try to find a new Rodri — it is what it is,” the former Chelsea manager said. “Rodri, before he arrived here, he didn’t win the Ballon d’Or, he didn’t win the Champions League, he didn’t win the Club World Cup. Then he joined the club and then after he achieved many important things.
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“Now the target for us is to try to find the new Rodri.
“When David Silva was here, everyone was worried — Kevin [De Bruyne] arrived. When Sergio Agüero was here, everyone was worried — Erling [Haaland] arrived. When Ferdinando left, Rodri arrived. It’s just about this.
“When they leave, you need to be good and recruit the next one. They are all similar — David, Kevin, Fernandinho, Rodri, Agüero, Erling. It’s just normal, it’s a change. It’s not a problem, just go again and try to do the right things.”
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Rodri’s departure is among a number of high-profile exits including Bernardo Silva, John Stones, Nathan Aké and Tijjani Reijnders. With Savinho heading to Tottenham and Omar Marmoush and Nico González also potentially leaving, City’s squad is undergoing considerable change.
Elliot Anderson has been their only major signing of the summer window so far but Maresca said further arrivals are likely before the transfer deadline and there is no cause for alarm.
“Hopefully we can do the things that we need to do,” Maresca said ahead of Sunday’s Premier League opener against Bournemouth. “It doesn’t help that there are players that for different reasons want to leave, this is for sure.
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“But we need to adapt and we don’t want to keep players here that don’t want to stay.
“The normal thing in transfer windows is that you have to wait because all the clubs try to keep players until the last week and then sell for more money.
“It’s normal, I’m not worried about that. When the transfer window closes and we have all the squad there, for sure it will be different.”
PA contributed to this report.
