It is indisputable that Rodri’s ACL rupture, suffered against Arsenal in late September, is the primary factor behind Manchester City’s decline in form.
Prior to this, the Sky Blues won four of four Premier League matches; subsequently, they’ve won only five of 15, including just two of the last ten.
Filling the void vacated by the current Ballon d’Or holder was never going to be straightforward, but do Man City already boast a perfect Rodri deputy on their books?
And no, it isn’t Kalvin Phillips…
Kalvin Phillips' failed Manchester City career
At the moment, Mateo Kovačić and İlkay Gündoğan are being tasked with deputising for Rodri, given that Man City do not have an obvious back-up in their squad, with Pep Guardiola calling the Spaniard “irreplaceable”.
Well, that’s because Kalvin Phillips is currently out on loan at Ipswich Town.
Phillips joined the champions from Leeds for £42m in 2022, having shone for his boyhood club, but fair to say this transfer has been a complete catastrophe for both player and club.
During his first season with the Citizens, Phillips saw just 595 minutes of action, thereby featuring in a miserly 10.8% of all of Man City’s minutes, despite the fact they played 61 games across all competitions, winning the treble.
Then, after making only ten appearances, totalling 319 minutes, during the first half of last season, he spent the second half of the campaign on loan at West Ham, but this didn’t go to plan either, giving away a goal a couple of minutes into his debut against Bournemouth before being sent off at Nottingham Forest a few weeks later and largely warming the Hammers bench thereafter.
Having most recently featured for Man City against Urawa Red Diamonds in December 2023, Phillips was loaned out to Ipswich for this season, but has failed to cement a regular starting spot, starting against Arsenal on Friday night, but this was the first time he’d been included in the lineup since a red card against Leicester all the way back in early-November.
Put succinctly, Phillips is not the future of Man City’s midfield, but might Máximo Perrone be?
Máximo Perrone could be Man City's next midfield maestro
Máximo Perrone joined Manchester City from Vélez Sarsfield for a fee of around £8.2m.
Despite the fact this move was made two years ago, chances are you’ve never heard of him, which is fair enough, considering he’s made just two appearances for the Sky Blues, coming off the bench for a two-minute cameo against Bristol City in an FA Cup tie, having featured for 18 minutes at Bournemouth three days earlier, both back in February 2023.
Thus, the 21-year-old spent last season on loan at La Liga side Las Palmas, a regular starter as los Amarillos avoided relegation, before being loaned out again this season, joining Serie A outfit Como this time.
Having started each of I Lariani’s first nine matches this season, he has not featured since 25 October, with manager Cesc Fàbregas stating he “has a hematoma in his thigh”, expecting he will be back in mid-January.
Perrone’s first goal in Sky Blue came during a pre-season friendly defeat to Celtic in Chapel Hill, North Carolina back in July, and he is certainly in Man City’s long-term plans, with analyst Ben Mattinson declaring him the “ideal Rodri back-up”, so how do the two compare?
Statistic
Rodri
Perrone
Appearances
48
31
Minutes
4,167
1,689
Passes attempted
4,588
1,311
Pass completion %
91.9%
90.1%
Short pass completion %
94.1%
93.1%
Tackles
84
42
Interceptions
34
24
Touches
4,977
1,492
Of course, as the data underlines, Perrone has a long way to go to be as good as Rodri, but there are some stylistic similarities, specifically their pass completion, as well as the fact that a very high proportion of their passes are played short.
Given that the two teams Perrone has played for, Las Palmas and Como, are battling against relegation, it’s no surprise that his total touches are substantially lower, but that does not mean he could not slot into a Guardiola team.
So, perhaps Perrone could be just who Man City are looking for heading into 2025; he can’t possibly fit in any worse than Phillips!
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