Paul Merson believes City can afford to sell Rodri this summer, pointing to the club’s £116m signing of Elliot Anderson as the reason.
Writing in his Sky Sports column, Merson said he didn’t see how Rodri and Anderson would fit into the same midfield. “Rodri is the best in the business at ticking it over, Anderson is going to be the best in the business at ticking it over,” he said. “But to play both of them in there? I don’t think they need that.”
Rodri has been consistently linked with a move to Real Madrid this summer. Merson argued City’s own approach to games would limit how often both players are needed at once. “How many teams are going to have a go at Man City? People go to the Etihad and shut up shop and counter-attack. Do you need two holding midfielders against Hull? No, of course not.”
He did add a caveat for the biggest fixtures. “In the big games, when they’re playing away in the Champions League in a quarter-final or the last 16, then you need two holding midfield players,” he said, noting City were “a bit too open” in Europe last season.
Merson suggested the only scenario in which City would need to keep both is if Anderson spent a season learning under Rodri before taking over the role. “But £116m is a lot to spend on someone to be an understudy,” he said. “Rodri will want to play, and he won’t want to sit there and be someone’s understudy.”
He was clear that any sale would still mean losing a top-level player. “You’re still selling one of the best players in the world,” Merson said.
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