Enzo Maresca says Manchester City must find someone to replace Rodri after the midfielder left for Barcelona this summer.
Rodri completed his move to Spain after seven seasons at the Etihad Stadium, during which he won four Premier League titles and the Champions League as well as the World Cup and Ballon d’Or. Maresca said his task was now to find a successor.
“I’ll try to find a new Rodri – it is what it is,” Maresca said. “Now the target for us is to try to find the new Rodri.”
City have a positive history of successfully replacing major players who have left in recent years. David Silva was followed by Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero was replaced by Erling Haaland, and Fernandinho was replaced by Rodri.
“When they leave, you need to be good and recruit the next one,” Maresca said. “It’s just normal, it’s a change. It’s not a problem, just go again and try to do the right things.”
Serious recruitment is needed at the club after a host of first team players left this summer. Bernardo Silva, John Stones, Nathan Ake and Tijjani Reijnders have also left, while Savinho is heading to Tottenham. Omar Marmoush and Nico Gonzalez could yet join the throng.
Meanwhile, Elliot Anderson is currently City’s only major signing of the summer so far.
Maresca expects that to change before the transfer window closes. The Italian said the club must also manage players who want to leave rather than attempt to retain unwilling members of the squad.
“It doesn’t help that there are players that for different reasons want to leave, this is for sure,” he said. “But we need to adapt and we don’t want to keep players here that don’t want to stay.”
Maresca also played down concerns about the timing of City’s recruitment, saying clubs often delay major business until the final stages of the window because they are reluctant to sell early.
The manager said: “The normal thing in transfer windows is that you have to wait because all the clubs try to keep players until the last week and then sell for more money.”
