Finding the New Rodri: Enzo Maresca's Challenge for Manchester City

Enzo Maresca knows exactly what’s being asked of him. Replace Rodri. Replace the metronome, the safety net, the spine of a side that has defined an era.

He isn’t pretending the task is anything but huge. He is, however, refusing to panic.

“Find the new Rodri”

With Rodri completing a headline move to Barcelona last week, Manchester City have been forced into an uncomfortable position: searching for a “new Rodri” with the transfer window ticking into its final stretch.

Maresca didn’t shy away from the scale of the job, but he framed it on City’s terms — development, not desperation.

“Now the target for us is to try to find the new Rodri,” he said. “How do we solve the problem? Try to find the new Rodri. Before he arrived, he didn't win the Ballon d'Or, he didn't win the Champions League, he didn't win the Club World Cup. He joined the club then he achieved many important things.”

The message was clear. City didn’t buy the finished article last time. They built him.

Guardiola’s principle, Maresca’s reality

Maresca is also holding firm to one of Pep Guardiola’s core principles: if a player wants to go, you open the door, not chain it shut.

Rodri wanted a new challenge in La Liga. City, true to their stance under Guardiola, did not stand in his way. The Italian made it clear that keeping unsettled stars is not part of the club’s identity.

He leaned on recent history to underline the point. Icons have gone before. City moved on.

“When Sergio [Aguero] was here, everyone was worried and Erling [Haaland] arrived,” Maresca said. “Fernandinho? Rodri arrived. It is just about this.

“When they leave, you need to be good in recruiting the next one. They are all similar, David [Silva], Kevin [De Bruyne], Fernandinho, Rodri, Erling. It is normal, it is change, it is not a problem, go again and try to do the right things.”

The pattern is familiar: a legend departs, the anxiety spikes, the recruitment department goes to work, and City reinvent themselves without losing their edge.

A lean squad and a messy window

The Rodri question isn’t the only one on Maresca’s desk. He wants a tight, competitive group — about 20 senior outfield players — to carry City through another long season.

Right now, though, the picture is blurred. Several players are weighing up their futures. That uncertainty filters into training, into planning, into every tactical conversation.

“It doesn’t help that there are players that for different reasons want to leave, that is for sure,” Maresca admitted. “But we need to adapt. There are 10 days to go, hopefully we can do the things that we need to do.”

So City work, wait and negotiate, knowing that the final days of August rarely run smoothly.

Late-window chaos awaits

Maresca has been around long enough to understand how this part of the market works. Deals stall. Agents push. Clubs hold out. And then, suddenly, everything happens at once.

“The normal thing in the transfer window is that you have to wait until the last week, because all the clubs try to keep players until the last week and then sell for more money,” he said.

City fans are braced for that familiar late scramble: a holding midfielder hunt, possible exits, and a squad reshaped under a new head coach in real time.

“At the end, we’ll have all the squad here for sure it will be different,” Maresca concluded.

Different is guaranteed. The real question is whether, somewhere in that late-window chaos, City really do find their next Rodri.