Maresca's Challenge: Replacing Rodri at Manchester City
Enzo Maresca has barely settled into the Manchester City dugout and already he is staring at the kind of problem that can define a reign: replacing Rodri.
The Spain international, a World Cup winner and Ballon d'Or recipient, has left for Barcelona after seven years at the Etihad. In that time he became the metronome and the shield, the man who stitched together four Premier League titles and a Champions League triumph from the base of midfield.
Now he is gone. The hole is enormous, and Maresca is not pretending otherwise.
"I'll try to find a new Rodri – it is what it is," the City manager said, blunt and unfazed.
He made a simple point. Rodri did not arrive as the finished article or as the global star he leaves as. The accolades came in Manchester, not before it.
"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.
"Now the target for us is to try to find the new Rodri."
This is how City have lived for a decade: one era-defining player walks out, another walks in. Maresca reached for the club’s own history to steady the nerves.
"When David Silva was here, everyone was worried – Kevin (De Bruyne) arrived. When Sergio Aguero 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."
Rodri is not the only departure. Far from it. This has been a summer of dismantling as much as refining.
- Bernardo Silva
- John Stones
- Nathan Ake
- Tijjani Reijnders
have all left, stripping experience and stability from a squad Maresca has inherited from Pep Guardiola. Savinho is set to join Tottenham, with Omar Marmoush potentially following him out of the door. Nico Gonzalez could also move on before the window shuts.
For now, only one major signing has come through the door: midfielder Elliot Anderson. One fresh face against a cascade of exits. On paper, the balance looks alarming.
Maresca does not see it that way.
"Hopefully we can do the things that we need to do," he said ahead of Sunday’s Premier League opener against Bournemouth, aware that the market is still moving around him.
"It doesn't help that there are players that for different reasons want to leave, this is for sure.
But we need to adapt and we don't want to keep players here that don't want to stay."
That has been City’s stance under Guardiola and it continues under his successor: no hostage situations, no sulking stars hanging around the training ground. If a player’s head has turned, the club opens the door — at the right price.
The reality, as Maresca pointed out, is that this is how modern windows work. Clubs drag negotiations out, hold on to assets, squeeze every last pound from deals.
"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."
For now, City walk into a new season lighter, younger, and with a gaping space where Rodri once stood. Maresca insists the club will find their next midfield cornerstone.
The question is not whether they will. It’s how quickly they can do it, and what the cost will be in points before the new Rodri finally walks through the door.
