Maresca vows to find City's next Rodri after £65.4m sale to Barcelona confirmed

Enzo Maresca has set Manchester City the task of finding a new Rodri after the club confirmed the sale of the Ballon d’Or winner to Barcelona for £65.4m, with the new City head coach insisting the transition is a challenge the club has successfully navigated many times before.

Speaking ahead of the Premier League season, Maresca drew on a string of high-profile exits to make his case for optimism. When David Silva left, Kevin De Bruyne arrived. When Sergio Agüero departed, Erling Haaland followed. When Fernandinho moved on, Rodri stepped in. The Italian believes the same cycle can repeat itself.

“I’ll try to find a new Rodri. It is what it is,” Maresca said. “Rodri, when he arrived here, he didn’t win the Ballon d’Or, he didn’t win the Champions League, he didn’t win the Club World Cup — then he joined the club and after he achieved many important things. Now the target for us is to try to find the new Rodri.”

“When they leave, you need to be good and recruit the next one. It’s just normal, it’s a change. It’s not a problem, just go again and try to do the right things.”

City have already moved decisively in the transfer market this summer, breaking their club record by signing Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest for £116m. The club are also in advanced discussions over Lille teenager Ayyoub Bouaddi, with reports suggesting a fee in excess of £80m could be required. Both players are viewed internally as possessing some of the attributes needed to fill the void left by Rodri, though the scale of that task is considerable — the Spaniard was widely regarded as capable of doing the work of two players at his peak.

Maresca acknowledged the difficulty but framed it as part of the natural evolution of a club that has consistently refreshed its squad without losing its identity. His confidence rests on the belief that City’s coaching infrastructure and recruitment model can develop the next generation of elite midfielders just as they did with Rodri himself, who arrived without the individual honours he would go on to accumulate during his time at the Etihad.