Man City's midfield options prove Rodri is replaceable after all — SkimNews
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- Manchester City beat Porto 2-0 away in the Champions League, with Erling Haaland scoring twice and Porto failing to register a single shot on target at the Estadio do Dragao.
- Ayyoub Bouaddi, the £86m summer signing from Lille, posted 98% passing accuracy on his first Man City start, compared to 96% for Rodri in Barcelona's 5-1 win over Feyenoord 24 hours later.
- Haaland told chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak "we've got a gem" about Bouaddi, with manager Enzo Maresca calling the teenager "never in panic" and his performance "unbelievable" after the Porto win.
- Elliot Anderson and Enzo Fernandez complete the £326m midfield overhaul; Anderson outperformed Rodri across most metrics at Nottingham Forest last term, while Fernandez can play the No 10 role to add goal threat.
- Rodri left City for Barcelona in summer 2026 after his 2024 ACL injury left him unable to play every three days in his final seasons, opening the door for the midfield makeover.
- Maresca is set to deploy Anderson in the holding role with Fernandez just ahead for Sunday's Manchester derby at Old Trafford (4:30pm kick-off, live on Sky Sports), with Bouaddi likely involved from the bench.
- Man City had not lost at the Estadio do Dragao throughout 2026, making the clean-sheet victory a notable Champions League result despite Maresca admitting his side "complicated" the win.
Why it matters: Manchester City spent £326m to replace a Ballon d'Or winner deemed irreplaceable, and the early returns — a clean sheet in Porto plus a 98% passing display from 18-year-old Bouaddi — suggest the rebuild may already be bearing fruit ahead of Sunday's derby at Old Trafford. If the trio gels under Maresca, City reset their post-Guardiola ceiling and extend their grip on Manchester; if it doesn't, the price tag becomes the headline.
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