Martí Perarnau, the journalist and writer who specialises in professional football, particularly Barcelona and Pep Guardiola, spoke on the programme "La Graderia del Palco" on Ràdio Catalunya to analyse the career of Manchester City star Rodri from two perspectives: sporting and personal.
Perarnau, who has close ties to Manchester City, explained, as reported by the website of "Cadena SER", how the midfielder endured a lengthy period of adaptation when he joined the English club. Two years of relentless work on the technical, tactical and psychological levels turned him into the decisive player we know today.
Had he seen the twist coming? Rodri had been close to Real Madrid before the situation changed and Barcelona became his first choice. "When it was widely believed that Rodri would move to Real Madrid, I tried to verify whether that was true," he said.
He added: "It so happened that I asked, on the wedding day of Dani Cudina, the Barcelona coach who had previously been a coach at Manchester City. There were people from Barcelona there, and others from City, and many people connected to these two clubs. On that day, they told me that things, especially regarding Rodri, were not going as the press was suggesting, but rather in a completely different way. So while the media were interpreting one thing, Rodri's path was in fact heading in a completely different direction."
On Rodri's personality he explained: "He is an extremely serious person and a fierce competitor. When he joined Manchester City, he faced considerable difficulties. He was very young, around twenty-three years old, and perhaps he did not realise the scale of the expectations he would face."
He continued: "It is easy to play for Villarreal and shine, but it is difficult to play for Manchester City, to compete for the Premier League and all the English titles, and to train under Pep Guardiola. He struggled in his first two years, and had to work hard to correct the mistakes and weaknesses that the coaches spotted in him."
Is he a different breed from today's usual footballer? "Yes. He has a degree in business administration, he does not use social media, he prefers to stay out of the spotlight, and he is a wonderful team-mate. He is completely different from the traditional footballer," Perarnau noted.
He went on: "In Manchester, he is rarely seen in a situation unbecoming of a top-class athlete. He takes great care of himself, works hard, and expresses his opinion frankly, but he is also open to hearing what others want. Nevertheless, he also has a tendency to let loose, which we see in his celebrations and, at times, on the pitch. When he loses control of himself a little, he may commit a foul. But they are minor errors. In general, he is a very disciplined person."
Could he lead the Barcelona dressing room? "He is very clear on this matter, and he will have a great influence on the young players, because he went through this experience himself at Manchester City. When he joined the team at the age of twenty-three, he found himself alongside a seasoned player like Fernandinho, who was a key figure in his position, and he had to learn from him," Perarnau explained.
He added: "He also played alongside players such as Kevin De Bruyne and Gündoğan. The dressing room there was marked by strictness, and things were said with complete clarity, whether in good times or bad. Rodri benefited greatly from this kind of learning, and he made valuable contributions. Now, if he finally joins Barcelona, he will have to play a role that is the complete opposite of the one Fernandinho played with him: to be the seasoned player who guides the young players."
One story sums up Rodri's character. "There is a genuinely funny incident. One day, I received a call from Manchester and they asked me for my opinion on who would win a 400-metre race between Rodri and Ferran Torres. They were both extremely competitive, with each claiming to be better than the other. They spent an entire afternoon arguing about who would win this hypothetical race. I chose Rodri. This shows just how competitive he is: he wants to win even in something as trivial as this," the journalist recounted.