70 September 2019 FourFourTwo
ball recoveries per game (7.3), and was second
only to Matic for the number of tackles made.
But those statistics only tell half the story.
As the campaign rolled on, rumours started
to filter out of Atletico that Simeone and Rodri
didn’t always see eye to eye.
The latter wanted to be on the ball more –
Rodri averaged significantly fewer passes per
game than Jorginho (97) or Busquets (76) in
2018-19 – while the former felt his midfielder
had to work harder without the ball, despite
his continent-leading figures.
“That’s how we play,” came the reply from
several senior Atletico players.
Simeone was no less unbending, particularly
on Rodri’s occasional absent-mindedness. The
Spaniard frequently arrives for training two or
three hours early when given the morning off,
or wears a club suit instead of a tracksuit for
away matches. Little things, perhaps, but very
important things for a coach like El Cholo.
“Hopefully Rodri can improve,” he said. “The
small details are the most important, but his
potential is enormous. Sergio Busquets is the
best Barcelona have at controlling the game,
looking for transitions and finding balance.
He’s fundamental, and that’s what Rodri has
to do for us.”
Atleti supporters, however, have needed no
convincing. The local lad became a firm fans’
favourite because of the link he provides to
the club’s grass roots, and there was almost
a riot when Simeone hauled Rodri off after 70
minutes in a man-of-the-match performance
at home to Eibar last September.
Afterwards, daily newspaper El Pais wrote:
“The fury was resounding as it was surprising.
Never in the Simeone era has a substitution
generated such a reaction among supporters.
They recognise a footballer different to what
they already have who improves the team’s
relationship with the ball.”
Simeone, though, is rarely a man for turning.
As the season went on, the feeling grew that,
while the Colchoneros’ chief didn’t want to
lose Rodri, if a giant were to trigger his €70m
release clause, it wouldn’t be the worst thing.
That Premier League champions Manchester
City proved the most determined giant for the
midfielder’s signature wasn’t a huge surprise.
Fernandinho is 34 and can’t go on forever, and
although Ilkay Gundogan impressed at the
base of the City midfield during the Brazilian’s
injury concerns towards the end of last term,
the German has the feel of a temporary fix.
Rodri is a square peg in a square hole, just
the sort of player Guardiola has craved in three
seasons in England.
“He has proven himself as a hugely talented,
young midfielder,” said City director of football
Txiki Begiristain. “He works hard defensively,
makes himself available to receive the ball and
uses it well in possession. We’re confident he
will be a success.”
Crucially, the Citizens’ latest No.16 is also
a humble and down-to-earth guy who relishes
interaction with his coach and the important
independent thought.
“If you want something, you have to work
for it, but I’ve never changed who I am,” said
Rodri. “And, of course, whatever you do, enjoy
yourself. If you don’t have fun, you’re wasting
your time.”
Oh, we nearly forgot, why doesn’t he have
any tattoos?
“I think they look ugly.”
Short, sharp, to the point – exactly how he
plays. It must be music to Guardiola’s ears.Andrew Murray (@Andy_MurrayFFT) has been
a staff writer since 2012. Read his interview
with Barcelona legend Carles Puyol in FFT 301RODRI
HERn A nDEZ“HE DOES DIFFICULT THInGS WITH TOTAL
EASE. JUST LIKE BUSQUETS, HE HAS THE
InTUITIOn TO PUT HIMSELF In EXACTLY
THE RIGHT SPOT TO WIn THE BALL BACK”
Top Busquets
faces his natural
heir at Villarreal
in 2017 Above
City’s record buy
is the perfect Pep
Guardiola player“He had to adapt his game at Atletico,” said
Luis Milla, who coached Rodri in Spain’s U19s.
“They don’t take the initiative and want to win
the ball back and counter-attack quickly. The
central midfielder is more tactical. He has to
place more attention on where he puts himself
on the pitch. Rodri fits perfectly at Manchester
City, because Pep Guardiola has an Ajax and
Barcelona style and looks for the same idea of
play. City have a coach influenced at Barcelona
and Rodri has the ability to play that way.”
Guardiola demands bright, adaptable players
who eschew modern football’s stereotypical
trappings. Rodri, on top of being precisely the
type of player the Catalan coach has wanted
to add to to his ranks at the Etihad Stadium,
has no social media accounts.
“It’s not that I don’t like it,” he revealed of
his self-imposed digital blackout. “ I’ve never
felt that I really needed them. I’ve always been
surrounded by people, and prefer getting to
know people by face. It doesn’t mean I won’t
have them one day in the future. I just don’t
want them now.”
Rodri will also be keen to get to work with
Guardiola, a coach whose philosophy could
hardly be more removed from Simeone’s.
“I was hooked by Guardiola’s football,” he
once said of Pep’s stellar Barcelona team that
won the Champions League in 2009 and 2011.
“That team were winners and innovators. That
meant a lot to me as a kid.”
Unveiled as a City player in early July, Rodri
was no less excited.
“What they have achieved in the last two
years has been amazing – I’m looking forward
to being part of such a talented squad,” he
said. “It’s not just the titles they have won,
but the way they have managed it, playing
attacking football at all times.”
Such innovation is what City see in their new
recruit, a different way of playing which few
footballers can match. When Barça originally
signed Javier Mascherano from Liverpool in
2010, it was as a defensive midfielder. The
problem was, the Argentine slowed the team
down too much because he couldn’t control
the ball and pass it on quickly enough. Only
Busquets could do that.
“Speed isn’t in your body, it’s in your mind,”
said heir apparent Rodri. “The quickest players
aren’t those who run the fastest, but those
who make sure the ball spends as little time
at their feet as possible to give fluidity to the
play. Neither Sergio nor me are particularly
quick, but we give dynamism to our teams.”