Enzo Maresca: "All Teams Need a Player Like Rodri" as Manchester City Plans Squad Reinforcements

Manchester City's head coach, Enzo Maresca, has commented on the importance of midfielder Rodri, stating that "all teams need a player like Rodri." This comes as Barcelona are reportedly close to a deal for the influential Spanish international. Despite previous rejected bids, reports suggest Barcelona have had an offer of £65.4 million accepted for Rodri, who has recently won the World Cup and the Ballon d'Or.

"He's a top player; all the teams need a player like Rodri," Maresca remarked after his first competitive match in charge, a 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Community Shield. "We are quite clear with what we need to do and, for sure, we are going to do something before the transfer window closes. It’s not because we lost."

Regarding the team's performance in the defeat, Maresca suggested the result was not solely attributable to Rodri's potential absence. He assessed new signing Elliot Anderson's display as "quite good" and Mateo Kovacic as having played well, despite City falling behind early in the match. "We can find many things after this kind of defeat – we just need to analyse it in the right way," Maresca stated. "It’s not about if we miss Rodri or not."

Rodri returned to training on Friday, but is entering the final year of his contract. In other transfer news, Manchester City is reportedly close to a deal with Lille for 18-year-old Moroccan midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi.

The summer transfer window for 2026 opened on Monday, June 15, and will close on Tuesday, September 1. After this date, Premier League clubs can register a squad of up to 25 players, with a limit of 17 non-Home Grown Players. Under-21 players do not count towards this limit.

The Premier League transfer window deadline is 23:00 BST on transfer deadline day. Clubs can gain an additional two hours to file documentation if a deal sheet confirming an agreement is submitted before the closure. For international transfers, the FIFA Transfer Matching System deadline is midnight.

In the match against Arsenal, Rodri and winger Savinho were absent, reportedly due to injury. Erling Haaland had a quiet game, and Jack Grealish was a substitute.

Manchester City's starting XI against Arsenal was: Gianluigi Donnarumma, Abdukodir Khusanov, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Nico O’Reilly, Mateo Kovacic, Claudio Echeverri, Phil Foden, Antoine Semenyo, Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku.

Substitutes included: Geronimo Rulli, Marc Guehi, Omar Marmoush, Rayan Cherki, Nico Gonzalez, Jack Grealish, Rayan Ait-Nouri, Matheus Nunes, Rico Lewis.

Manchester City's 2026/27 Premier League season begins at home against Bournemouth on Sunday, August 23, with a BST start time of 14:00. The match will be broadcast on Sky Sports.