Barcelona could have signed Manchester City midfield mainstay in 2018 – report

Barcelona have been on a quest to find a suitable successor to Sergio Busquets in the middle of the park for a couple of years now. Every time, the hunt goes in vain owing to the sheer deficiency in the number of prospects that fit the bill in terms of quality.

Yet, there is one name in world football who has been compared to the Barcelona veteran for years now. The defensive midfielder, who has also taken over from Busquets for the Spanish national team, currently plays for Manchester City and is none other than Rodri.

According to reports from SPORT, Barcelona could have signed Rodri from Villarreal in 2018 and were heavily interested in his profile.

However, Atletico Madrid rushed into the picture before the Catalans made a move and snapped up his signature for €20 million with another €5 million in variables.

The midfielder thus made the move to Madrid from Villarreal in 2018 and spent one season under Diego Simeone’s stewardship. Such was his level with Los Rojiblancos that Manchester City stole him away just a year later for €70 million.

The 26-year-old has been a regular for Pep Guardiola’s side ever since and is now an irreplaceable member in the middle of the park.

Rodri has started 28 of Manchester City’s 29 league games this season and averages 86 minutes on the field per outing. In that duration, he has scored two goals and provided five assists in addition to averaging 1.1 key passes per game and creating eight big chances.

The Spaniard most recently started Manchester City’s UEFA Champions League clash against Bayern Munich and scored the opening goal on the night en route to a scintillating 3-0 win.

Barcelona may, in the future, find another prospect with similar qualities, but the delay in the decision to sign Rodri back in 2018 could come back to haunt them for a long time.