Manchester City are preparing for a spell without Rodri at the heart of midfield, and Enzo Maresca is reported to have identified Liverpool\u2019s Alexis Mac Allister as one possible solution.<\/p>\n
It is the first time since 2019-20 that City must cope without Rodri controlling games, and the warning signs are already clear. The Premier League side went trophyless in 2024-25 when the midfielder missed most of the campaign with an ACL injury, before suffering a 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Community Shield.<\/p>\n
City have already spent heavily by bringing in Elliot Anderson and remain in talks over Morocco\u2019s Ayyoub Bouaddi, but the need for another midfielder remains. BBC Sport report that Mac Allister \u201cinterests\u201d Maresca.<\/p>\n
The Liverpool player is under contract until June 2028 and is viewed as a fit for the role because of his deep-lying playmaking qualities and defensive work. His profile is similar to Rodri\u2019s, although last season\u2019s drop in form did leave some questions hanging over his level.<\/p>\n
Even so, the 2022 World Cup winner would still strengthen most midfields. Whether he is Maresca\u2019s first choice is less clear, with the Italian long known to want a reunion with Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez.<\/p>\n
The pair worked together at Chelsea, where Fern\u00e1ndez reached his best form under Maresca. After Maresca left Stamford Bridge on New Year\u2019s Day, the midfielder began openly flirting with a move, leading to a two-game ban from the Chelsea hierarchy.<\/p>\n
Real Madrid had been his preferred destination, but the 15-time European champions said they have \u201cno intention\u201d of pursuing the 25-year-old. City then became a possible exit route, with reports stating they made direct contact with his camp before balking at the $162 million (\u00a3120 million) valuation.<\/p>\n
Chelsea set that fee as a deadline price, but no club acted in time. The Telegraph now say City could be asked to pay more than $162 million if they return, and that only an improved offer or \u201cmore favorable terms\u201d would persuade Chelsea.<\/p>\n
Fern\u00e1ndez has continued to draw attention this summer, though Chelsea are planning for 2026-27 with him in their squad. He featured in the 3-1 preseason win over Real Sociedad and later received a mixed reception at Stamford Bridge, where his equalizer for Argentina against England in the 2026 World Cup semifinal remains fresh in memory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Maresca is weighing Liverpool\u2019s Alexis Mac Allister as City search for a Rodri replacement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18563,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,238],"tags":[1162,59,182],"class_list":["post-18564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","category-manchester-city","tag-analytics","tag-featured","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}