It was a busy deadline day for Manchester City, who, at the eleventh hour, secured their third signing of the transfer window.
Pep Guardiola’s side signed midfielder Nico Gonzalez from Porto for £50m, which saw them spend £180m in total over the course of the January transfer window.
The Citizens also signed Omar Marmoush from Eintracht Frankfurt, and centre-backs Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis from Lens and Palmerias respectively.
It was certainly necessary for the reigning Premier League champions to strengthen their squad, given their poor season. Guardiola’s side sit fifth in the table, already 15 points behind league leaders Liverpool.
Indeed, the signing of Gonzalez will be important to City, largely because they are a midfielder light, and have been for some time, due to the injury to Rodri.
Man City's need for a Rodri replacement this winter
Guardiola said it himself last September; Rodri is an “irreplaceable” midfielder, with City’s legendary manager describing him as “the best midfielder in the world”, something that was confirmed after he won the Ballon d’Or in 2024.
Everyone knows how much of a miss he has been, and will continue to be, for the East Manchester side. He is a destroyer at the base of their midfield, able to break up play with ease and progress play forwards. He makes everything look easy, an effortless midfielder.
He has played 260 games for the club, scoring 26 goals and registering 30 assists in that time. No strike of Rodri’s has been, or perhaps ever will be, more crucial than the goal he scored in the Champions League final against Inter in 2023.
Arguably, the signing of Gonzalez on deadline day was a panic buy, although City had been plotting a move for the final few days of the window. He is also an attack-minded midfielder and has 13 goals and assists so far this season, but is still an important signing to get numbers up.
Perhaps City could have saved themselves the hassle and money of making such a late signing, had they kept an academy star who could have been Rodri’s replacement this season.
The Rodri replacement Man City have already got rid of
The player in question here is Borussia Dortmund Dortmund midfielder Felix Nmecha. The 24-year-old left the Citizens in 2021 for the Bundesliga, departing City’s academy to join German outfit Wolfsburg.
Now at Dortmund, the Germany international has become a key player for the club, playing 27 times this season, even chipping in with three goals and two assists. That includes scoring once in the Champions League against Celtic.
Dortmund attacking midfielder Julian Brandt explained the Hamburg-born midfielder has “been consistently very good” for the Bundesliga giants this season, a real testament to how hard he has worked in the middle of the park.
Crucially, Nmecha has played as a number six for much of the campaign. Looking back on it, that is perhaps where City could have missed out on their perfect in-house Rodri replacement, had they kept him at the club rather than letting him leave for nothing four years ago.
He did get a taste of first-team action at the Etihad Stadium, playing three times for City over the span of two different seasons, in 2018/19 and 2020/21.
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However, he never made a Premier League appearance, instead featuring 86 times for the East Manchester outfit’s academy in total but moved back to Germany after first-team chances alluded him.
Man City
3
73
1
Man City u21s
47
3150
20
Man City U19s
11
505
3
Man City u18s
28
2197
18
Perhaps, looking back on the whole situation, Guardiola wishes the midfielder had stayed at the Etihad Stadium. Not only would he have been a more natural Rodri replacement, because he is a defensive midfielder, but he could have saved them a fortune on the Gonzalez deal.
It was certainly necessary for the Citizens to recruit in midfield this winter, but maybe the time and money could have been saved, had they not made the mistake of letting Nmecha leave almost four years ago.
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