Manchester City have struggled this season, winning just once in their last 11 games in all competitions. Their performances find them fifth in the Premier League, already nine points off first-placed Liverpool.
Pep Guardiola’s side have averaged the most possession in the division (62.7%), the most shots taken per game (17.6) and have conceded the fewest shots per match (9.2).
However, their biggest issue is the amount of xG they concede, already giving up 26.51 xG (10th most in the division) and 0.18 xG per shot (the most in the league).
All of this began to deteriorate since the injury of Rodri, who has been the metronome of this City side in recent years, and his importance has been further exemplified in his absence.
Rodri's influence at Manchester City
Since joining Man City back in 2019 for a club record fee (at the time) of £62.8m, Rodri has made 260 appearances, scoring 26 goals, providing 30 assists and totalling 20,560 minutes played.
rodri-man-city
The 28-year-old made history last season, becoming the player with the longest unbeaten run in club football history, going 74 games unbeaten.
He also has a 78% win rate since the start of the 2022/33 season, whilst City only have a 57% win rate without him, which is dropping each week.
Rodri’s importance can’t be underestimated, and their lack of a replacement has seen a huge drop-off in their performances with his injury this season, but that all could have been avoided, or at least minimised, had they not sold an academy graduate back in 2022.
Man City sold the perfect replacement
A certain Roméo Lavia was sold to Southampton back in 2022, for a fee of just around £10.5m in what was a rather understated move at the time.
Romeo-Lavia-Chelsea
18 at the moment in his career, he went on to have a brilliant breakthrough season, earning himself a move to Chelsea in the 2023 summer window where despite an injury-hit debut campaign, is now showing the type of form that would make him a brilliant fit at the Etihad Stadium.
So, now an "elite number 6" in the words of scout Jacek Kulig, how does he compare to Guardiola's current options in the middle of the park?
Lavia vs Rodri (23/24) vs Kovacic & Gundogan
Stats (per 90 mins)
Goals + Assists
Progressive Carries
Progressive Passes
Shots Total
Key Passes
Passes into Final Third
Tackles
Blocks
Interceptions
Aerial Duels Won
Stats taken from FBref
Well, Rodri completed a ridiculous 12.4 progressive passes per 90l ast season, as well as 11.9 passes into the final third, which was more than all three of the other midfielders.
Lavia ranked the lowest in this metric, but playing for Chelsea, Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernández can often take a lot of this progressive burden, which will affect his stats in comparison.
Where the Blues star does thrive is defensive actions per 90, making the most tackles, the most blocks and the most interceptions, whilst being the only one close to Rodri in terms of aerial duels won, despite being just 5 foot 11, compared to Rodri, who stands at 6 foot 3.
romeo-lavia-chelsea-premier-league
This isn't to say all of City's problems would go away had they had Lavia in reserve for Rodri. However, many of their problems coming in transition, that extra protection in front of the defensive line, the ability to cover ground and recover the ball, would have been very helpful in the absence of their Spanish midfield maestro.
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