Rodri sank to his knees and let the tears flow as the final whistle went in New Jersey, having just won the World Cup and completed a full set of major international and club honours. He starred in the final against Argentina, just as he did for Manchester City against Inter Milan in the 2023 Champions League win. This summer, the man for the big occasion had lifted the biggest prize of all.
While it might stick in the craw of some Blues fans that Rodri's best games of a season punctuated by injury issues came in the latter stages of the World Cup, the tournament showed a man who had gone to the well again in a season that still contained 46 appearances for club and country. It's a light workload by the standards of a player who passed 60 in three of the five seasons prior, but it still takes its toll on body and mind.
Rodri's Injury Struggles
Rodri has made no secret of his issues with the volume of matches in recent years. The midfielder turned 30 this summer and has spent much of the last two campaigns battling injuries. He was back to his best in the World Cup, spearheading Spain's march to glory and being named player of the tournament. But the World Cup is not the rough and tumble of the Premier League.
City midfielder Mateo Kovacic, who had injury issues of his own last season, made that exact point this summer, having returned from North America with Croatia. "When you come then to the national team and play in a World Cup, you see the pace is much slower, not so physical that every duel you have to give it everything," he said. "I think I was injured because a long time in the Premier League, it's not easy to play every game 100 per cent. Not just because of that, but maybe as well because of years of playing, training on the highest level, it can happen that the body at one point says I can't take it anymore. It's definitely the toughest league and every game is suffering."
Barcelona's Appeal
For Rodri, a move to Barcelona and Spain has plenty of attractions. He'd be back in his homeland, he'd still be competing for major honours domestically and abroad and he'll be playing alongside a clutch of teammates from the national team. But what he will also get is time. More time on the ball, more time with his family and more than likely more time off.
The gulf between the top and bottom of La Liga compared to the Premier League is significant. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid can hold their own with the best of the best and while there is plenty of quality below that it's not at the level of England's top flight. Of the top 16 clubs in UEFA's club coefficient, those three are Spain's representatives while England has six. The gap from the champions in Spain to fifth place last season was 35 points, 10 more than in the Premier League, while Arsenal failed to win five more games than Barca. In Europe, Nottingham Forest - who finished 16th in the top-flight - drew with Real Betis, who ended the campaign fifth in La Liga. Palace were 15th in England but beat Rayo Vallecano (eighth in Spain) in the Conference League final.
Easing the Workload
The standard across the Premier League is higher than in Spain, and the intensity is too. For Rodri, a man making the last big transfer and contract call of his career, that is a real selling point. This is a man who spoke of players going on strike such is the number of games required of them. "I think we are close to that," he said in September 2024.
Rodri's workload should ease if he moves to a league where he won't be required every week and he faces a less intense style when he does play. As the man himself said of the Premier League: "It's a thrilling league but at the same time very demanding, meaning it pushes you to the limit." There might be no limit to what Rodri can achieve in this game, but his body has been pushed to the max.
