Manchester City’s Premier League title success at the end of the 2023/24 season feels like a lifetime ago now with their reputation as English football’s dominant force taking a bruising this campaign.
Indeed, Arne Slot showed no fear coming up against Pep Guardiola’s assured outfit during his debut season at the Liverpool helm with top spot secured in style by the Dutchman. Moreover, Newcastle United would reign supreme in the EFL Cup, away from City getting their hands on another honour.
There is still the FA Cup up for grabs for the Citizens – alongside a space inside the Premier League top five – but it’s fair to say it’s been a big reality check for Guardiola and Co regardless. To potentially regain their position as the top dog soon, a handful of new signings could well do the trick this summer.
The latest on Man City's transfer plans
Even though their stature isn’t quite what it used to be, City do still have plenty of spending power when it comes to transfers into the Etihad.
After all, in January alone, Guardiola’s men managed to splash out a whopping £180m on new recruits, with faces being linked to the building now in the form of Morgan Gibbs-White and Florian Wirtz not coming in on the cheap side either.
Gaining the German’s services looks especially tricky, with anything below £127m deemed as unsatisfactory on Bayer Leverkusen’s end, meaning alternate targets in attack are being lined up.
One of those targets is Real Madrid superstar Rodrygo. According to reports from Spain, it’s stated that City are planning to come forward with a bid for the captivating Brazilian.
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It’s noted that City’s ‘strategy is clear’ as they go about launching an offer and engaging in talks with Madrid.
If previous rumours are anything to go by, a more modest – but still excessive – £85m could be seen as acceptable here.
Amazingly, acquiring the sensational South American could see City still win their own answer to Wirtz, with the 24-year-old similar in play style to the £100m+ man according to FBref, despite not lining up as a primary number ten option like the Leverkusen ace.
Why Rodrygo could be Man City's answer to Wirtz
Of course, Rodrygo hasn’t exactly been firing on all cylinders for Madrid as of late, with the 33-time Brazil international letting the last 12 La Liga games pass him by with no goals or assists being picked up.
Yet, he still has an encouraging total of 23 combined goals and assists this season from 50 overall clashes, which included one assist even being notched up against Guardiola’s side in Champions League knockout action back in February.
City will be very familiar of his “world-class” ability – as he was once lauded by revered teammate Luka Modric – away from just this assist, with four strikes also tallied up from nine appearances against his potential new employers.
But, away from his explosiveness in-front of goal being similar to Wirtz’s – who has amassed 16 goals himself in both the Bundesliga and Champions League for Xabi Alonso’s giants this season – both stars in question are capable of being flexible to fit their team’s needs, seen in the many different attacking positions they can slot into at a moment’s notice.
AM
Rodrygo
3
0
1
CF
Rodrygo
82
22
8
RW
Rodrygo
145
43
30
LW
Rodrygo
78
23
16
CM
Rodrygo
0
0
0
SS
Rodrygo
1
0
0
CF
Wirtz
11
4
4
RW
Wirtz
11
4
3
LW
Wirtz
9
2
3
CM
Wirtz
5
0
3
SS
Wirtz
4
3
3
As can be seen glancing at the extensive table above, both players can pop up in a wide array of positions, with Rodrygo’s varied game in particular seeing him accumulate 69 goals and assists combined as a winger across his career to date, away from just lining up as a central option up top.
Whilst Wirtz might well be their more desired target, an opportunity to land Rodrygo – who has openly been lauded as “special” in the past by Carlo Ancelotti – would be too good an opening to reject, especially if he’s a slightly more price-savvy alternative to the in-demand 22-year-old.
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