Manchester City: Fans have blasted mega summer signing Rodrigo over CL performance

After signing for £62.8 million last summer, showing huge promise for Atletico Madrid as an extraordinary passing midfielder and potential heir to Fernandinho, some Manchester City supporters were unimpressed with his performance in their 1-1 draw at home to Shakhtar Donetsk.

Ilkay Gundogan finally opened the scoring for City with his bundled effort before Israeli international Manor Solomon equalised following a stunning move – with Rodrigo then making way for Phil Foden after seemingly having minimal impact going forward.

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Despite what you could consider to be a sub-par performance, the Spaniard has still made a fine start to life at Eastlands since his mega move – fulfilling that label of ‘the ultimate passing midfielder’ which suits Pep Guardiola’s philosophy to a tee.

So far, the 23-year-old has amassed an incredible 92% pass success rate in the league and has an even better percentage of 94.5% in Europe, as per WhoScored.com – highlighting his wizardry when it comes to distribution.

However, some sceptics argue that he isn’t energetic or robust enough to fully take the mantel from Fernandinho as City’s midfield anchor – with some shining the light on his Shakhtar performance as proof.

Here’s what supporters had to say on Twitter.

He’s got the movement of a container ship. Early days but his lack of mobility is concerning

— Neil_K (@NK_ESQ) November 26, 2019

I like rodri, he just seems to get bypassed quite easily. Doesn’t cover anywhere near as much ground as dinho used to in there

— chris forshaw (@forshaw7) November 26, 2019

Not fit enough to finish the last game and then starts this game. No surprise he couldn’t finish this one either, pretty baffling decision why he started in the first place

— Michael Ferguson (@Michael_ferg17) November 26, 2019

It doesnt work, the stats of rodri and gundo together is shocking. Foden should have started tonight instead of rodri and put gundo in the centre. Jesus simply just does not cut the mustard either.

— Baz (@Baz_24) November 26, 2019