Readers of the Manchester Evening News were invited to score Rodri’s spell at Manchester City out of ten, and the verdict was unambiguous.
The Spanish midfielder experienced an outstanding period at the Etihad, and when we put this question to our audience, we suspected we already knew what response we would receive. It appears our intuition proved correct.
Rodri departed the Etihad on Tuesday after Barcelona officially announced his signing. The club banked £64.5million for the player, and while that represents modest compensation for the finest midfielder on the planet, it constitutes sensible business given he possessed merely twelve months remaining on his contract.
Rodri will be regarded as a legendary figure at the club, having claimed the Ballon d’Or during his tenure, alongside that memorable strike in Istanbul three years prior.
With all of that laid out plainly, requesting readers to evaluate his City career on a ten-point scale seems rather redundant.
Unsurprisingly, the bulk of respondents awarded the highest possible mark. Sixty-one percent assigned ten out of ten, while twenty-four percent opted for nine. Eleven percent gave eight, and a mere four percent awarded seven or below.
The club must now address the challenge of finding a successor for a player who proved central to their achievements over the past seven years. Reports from the Manchester Evening News indicate that Rodri’s exit would bear no relation to any potential acquisition of Ayyoub Bouaddi, meaning should Bouaddi arrive as anticipated, the search for Rodri’s replacement would continue regardless.
Nico Gonzalez represents another City midfielder potentially heading for the exit door this summer, with Newcastle understood to be keeping tabs on the player.