Today’s rumours quibbles with their valuation
P
ep Guardiola is the foremost football genius of his generation, revolutionising the game with imaginative tactics such as having the best players and the most money. But he has a particular expertise when it comes to wingers: consider Jack Grealish, now binned to Everton; Savinho, in the process of being binned to Spurs; Jérémy Doku, once fun, now ineffective; Julián Alvarez, binned to be brilliant at Atlético Madrid; Ferran Torres, binned after two seasons; Nolito, binned to Sevilla after a season; all acquired for a combined total of roughly £234.4m.
Consequently, one can only imagine Rodrygo’s excitement at the prospect of joining Manchester City from Real Madrid, who have decided that, though he offers goals, assists, energy, effort, experience, selflessness, variety, balance and big-game performances, he simply isn’t famous enough or attention-seeking enough to remain part of their squad. They value him at £87m – or, if he moves to the Etihad, £29.99 in two years’ time.
None of this is to decry Guardiola’s expertise when it comes to midfielders: in other City news, James McAtee is the latest to be deemed sub-par, following Cole Palmer, Morgan Rogers and Roméo Lavia out of the club. Nottingham Forest are close to agreeing a deal for the 22-year-old and, having paid £52m for Anthony Elanga, expect the price to be somewhere in the region of £9067m; Matheus Nunes, Nico González and Matteo Kovacic are all expected to remain in situ.
