A business administration degree as a second mainstay
So Rodri wrote himself in 2015 when he was from his training club Atlético Madrid to villa real had been transferred and ended up there only in the B team, at the renowned Universidad Jaume I near his new place of residence. And he kept at it. Also when Atletico brought back the native of Madrid in 2018 and he a year later from pep Guardiola to Manchester City was lured.
He needed City an “anchor player” who is as reliable as possible. One who exudes ball security in midfield and draws a game into himself. And that’s exactly what Rodri, who is imposing at 1.90 meters, learned. And with time. In his early days he had weaker games from time to time, but he now acts with an almost frightening consistency. And achieves data that others can only dream of.
Deep balls, shifts – Rodri’s specialty
With City’s ball circulation, it’s almost always Rodri who tears up the opposing defense with a deep pass or a side shift. There is one value that proves this: Rodri has played 1.54 kilometers of passes so far this season, of which 0.33 kilometers were deep balls with a distance of at least ten meters.
That is a value that no comparable midfielder can match. By the way, no Joshua Kimmich, who has similar qualities in play structure as Rodri. Another value that proves Rodri’s skills in the game forward: he plays an average of almost 15 long passes per game – that’s about twice as much as Real’s Casemiro does, for example.
“He can get even better”
Pep Guardiola loves the game of his clever six – especially since he turned off his weaker games. Guardiola finds: “There are a lot of world-class midfielders at the moment but one of them is absolutely Rodri at the moment.” Which he certainly believes can be improved: “Because he’s 25 years old, he’s still young. And his mentality of wanting to show his best in every game and training session means we can still expect a lot from him.”Guardiola believes.
The Catalan is far from ‘done’ with his midfielder, as he says: “He’s been exceptional so far. But I always tell him he can do better. Whether he wants it is up to him. But we’ll be here to help him.” Rodri will have enough time for his further training. He finished his business studies.
Source: oh yes