Manchester City have agreed a deal to sell Rodri to Barcelona but have lots of work to do to bring in players who will excite fans
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - AUGUST 15: Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall of Everton in action with Ayyoub Bouaddi of Lille during the pre-season friendly match between Everton and OSC Lille at Hill Dickinson Stadium on August 15, 2026 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)
Ayyoub Bouaddi in action for Lille against Everton at the weekend
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Finally, some movement. It's all very well Jamie Carragher telling Manchester City to cancel Rodri's transfer but in the real world it needed to be confirmed.
However much harder it makes it for Enzo Maresca, and as difficult as it is for fans to say goodbye, City don't make a point of keeping unhappy players when the money is good enough. And, after two bids from Barcelona that fell well short, an agreement was reached last week to bring an end to Rodri's seven years at the club.
Having travelled with the team last season to support them even when he was injured, being the last to rock up for pre-season and then not making an appearance in Cardiff for the Community Shield was telling. As Maresca said this week, it is difficult to convince players to stay when they have already decided to leave.
That said, it doesn't make Blues feel any better after a 3-0 drubbing at the hands of Arsenal to finally get confirmation that the best midfielder in the world is going. Mateo Kovacic was overrun in Sunday's defeat as the sole holding midfielder and, with the caveat that too much should not be read into one friendly, City don't look to have the personnel required to best Arsenal or to take control of their opening Premier League games.
What they need is movement of their own. Confirmation of a deal of Ayyoub Bouaddi, progress on Enzo Fernandez, or a swoop for another midfielder elsewhere - it doesn't necessarily matter what the immediate riposte is but City and their empire have to strike back quickly.
Bouaddi is the closest to being done but it has been lined up for so long without any competition other than Lille's resistance to selling him that the excitement has dribbled away. It will return, of course, but at the same time a teenager cannot be seen as a Rodri replacement when the World Cup winner adds to the wealth of experience that has walked out of the Etihad door this summer.
Moving for Fernandez would be an enormous statement of intent, whatever concerns many fans may have about the transfer. Given the deadline Chelsea unofficially set, putting pressure on a rival to sell with a monster bid would be a serious sign - if it gets over the line.
As they did in 2019 after losing 5-2 at home to Leicester and City paid up for Ruben Dias, the Blues are at a point where they just need to do something. Whether it is the right call or not, the club have to trust that it will be right enough for what is required.
That could be said to be an overreaction to a friendly defeat, of course, but City have been stuck for weeks. Getting Elliot Anderson done before the World Cup finished was good business, but there has not been enough since and the Blues look undercooked for the beginning of the season.
There are only two games before the window closes, yet that could make the ultimate difference after the final two games. How different might last year have ended if City hadn't lost two of their first three games after leaving so much of their business to the final days of the summer window?
Maresca spelt out the obvious in public after the Arsenal loss, saying the sooner City get new players through the door the better. Selling Rodri is much-needed progress, and now City need to show that they can be swift about a replacement to send the message that they are getting to where they need to be as the season looms.