Neil Humphreys: Watch and fear Manchester City's Rodri
If Manchester City's latest signing shines, there will be no EPL title race
One point divided the sides last season. One key signing will separate them when they meet in the Community Shield on Sunday night.
Manchester City and Liverpool played among the gods last season, reaching heights - and points totals - never previously reached in English football.
LIVERPOOL | MAN CITY |
No one else got close.
There's already a fear that no one will get within touching distance of Pep Guardiola's treble winners again, such is their embarrassment of riches.
And now they've added another.
Like a Kardashian with a platinum credit card, City have bought another luxury item that they didn't particularly need but spent the 70 million euros (S$107m) anyway, simply because they could.
Guardiola's thinking is little different to a sugar-gorging kid ransacking the supermarket shelves. If he buys the last chocolate bar, no one else can.
Rodri is hardly the last footballer on the shelf, but he's a sweet signing for City nonetheless. If he lives up to the billing, then Wembley may witness an occasion both thrilling and slightly unpalatable.
The Spanish midfielder promises to be the final piece of a puzzle that had no pieces missing - City plus Rodri potentially equals a one-horse race.
The English Premier League witnessed one of those two seasons ago and, although we whooped in all the right places, cheering City's sumptuous football, it was like being at a party playing the same great record all night.
No one wants a repeat performance, surely, and the Community Shield provides a glimpse of what lies in store for this season.
After missing out on the title by a single point, the Reds were the likeliest candidates for cosmetic surgery, adding a nippy No. 10 here or tucking in a new striker there.
But Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp hasn't really dabbled in the transfer market, claiming, not unfairly, that he effectively has two new signings in the returning Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and rising striker Rhian Brewster.
Both could make an appearance at Wembley.
BAROMETER
After accumulating 97 points in the EPL and winning the Champions League, Liverpool arguably didn't need a marquee signing. City certainly didn't, but bought one anyway.
Rodri's rise may precipitate the fall of a decent title race, which makes him the one to watch in the Community Shield.
The 23-year-old is a barometer for City's fresh attempt at invincibility.
At Atletico Madrid, he was the La Liga's outstanding pivot, the deep-lying midfielder who successful sides build around, the definitive No. 4 that Guardiola loves to have.
Rodri studied business at university and treats tactics in a similarly studious fashion.
At 17, Atletico released him for being too slight, even for La Liga, the natural home of Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi.
So Rodri overcompensated by quizzing youth coaches about formations, tactical shapes and passing moves, trying to be the literal embodiment of the late Ron Greenwood's coaching philosophy that the first two yards were in the brain.
If Rodri couldn't be the biggest on the pitch, he'd be the smartest. But his body caught up anyway. He's now a 1.9m central enforcer who tackles like Barca's Sergio Busquets and plays like a libero.
His touch and passing stats were among the highest in La Liga. He directs like an air traffic controller, capable of organising the movement of those around him from a deeper position.
He's the kind of intelligent and adaptable central midfielder who could conceivably find a place in Liverpool's line-up, but joined City, a club that already have a mature version of Rodri.
And that's slightly troubling.
The only side anywhere close to City have opted against major squad improvements, whereas the champions have doubled up in areas that didn't require urgent reinforcing.
Last season, Fernandinho, 34, saw off every challenger. Time will eventually defeat him. But he is still around and Rodri's peak years are ahead of him.
IMPENETRABLE WALL
The Spaniard represents another brick in City's impenetrable wall, the latest acquisition towards complete control of English football.
Rodri doesn't score many. He's netted only seven times in his career. But scoring isn't high on the list of priorities for a deep-lying midfielder. Apart from being shot-shy, he has no discernible weaknesses.
And he's just joined a club with no discernible weaknesses.
If he dominates against City's only viable competition, then Wembley should hoist a warning flag.
But if Rodri really elevates the champions' midfield, then the rest of the EPL might as well wave a white flag.
MONDAY: LOOK OUT FOR OUR COMMUNITY SHIELD REPORT
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