Manchester City Transfer News : Is Rodrigo the Midfield Answer?

Manchester City have been engaged in a widespread hunt for the replacement for our Brazilian midfield lynchpin – Fernandinho.

The fact Manchester City have made do without adequate or concerted cover for our sole defensive midfielder for two seasons seems careless at best. But Fernandinho is a special player in the systems played by Pep Guardiola and he has seemingly proved difficult to replace.

The Manchester City scouting network has been working hard all across the football world, looking for the ideal candidate. Luckily for us City fans there have been some near misses along the way – Fred anyone?

Right now though we have reached the critical part of this search. The transfer window looms large on the horizon and we know already that City often like to do their business early. It is very likely that behind the scenes key deals are already agreed and we are just waiting until the end of the season.

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Reports in the Spanish Press have linked City strongly to Atletico Madrid defensive midfielder Rodrigo. Rodrigo is a 22 year old Spanish player who is a regular starter for Diego Simeone’s side. He joined Atletico from Villareal in July 2018 for a sum of £22 million and since moving he has cemented his position in the team.

So far in the 2018/19 season he has made 41 appearances scoring 2 goals in the process. He is a combative but nippy player who I think most closely resembles Jorginho. Of particular interest to City will be the fact as a Spanish player he will have a technical release fee in his contract. Media report the value of that buy out clause to be £60 million – a sum certainly within reach of City.

The rumours linking Rodrigo to City started being published a couple of weeks ago. Last week the press published stories suggesting the player wanted to leave Atletico Madrid and go to Manchester. Within minutes of these stories appearing, sources close to the Spanish club rubbished the reports.

Of course we have all been around long enough to know a denial is always enough to make a story seem real! Following the denial the press speculation has increased significantly.Indeed many Uk journalists have suggested Rodrigo is the number one summer transfer target and that an agreement in principle is in place with Atletico.

If that is the case then Manchester City’s difficult and long search for the Fernandinho replacement would appear to be over. Only time will tell.