Last season, Rodri was so important that he played almost every game for Manchester City and scored their biggest goal of the season when it looked like the Champions League final might be following a familiar pattern.
Kalvin Phillips - through injury and form - couldn't offer enough of a challenge to Rodri, and Pep Guardiola eventually had to train his full-backs and centre-backs to offer support in defensive midfield instead.
With Ilkay Gundogan leaving, it makes sense for City to seek another stable midfielder, and Mateo Kovacic has had a medical as he nears a transfer from Chelsea for £25m. There is also interest in Declan Rice - although talk of an imminent bid from the Etihad may be premature.
Should Rice join Kovacic, the inevitable questions will follow: how will they fit in the City midfield alongside someone as undroppable as Rodri?
A clue may come from Spain, where Rodri has been deployed in central defence for his country. Guardiola, too, has increasingly used Rodri as a utility defender, often dropping into the back line when a full-back roams forward.
Towards the end of the season, as John Stones and others moved into midfield, or even both full-backs at once, often the last line of defence was simply a back two, consisting of Ruben Dias and one other. In those scenarios, Rodri moved back for extra cover, knowing there were still enough bodies in midfield.
Take a look at the Champions League final, too. The official UEFA teamsheets are often an indication of how a team will not line up, regularly guessing Guardiola's false nine wrong between 2020-2022. In the final in Istanbul, however, they declared that City would play a 3-2-2-3 formation, and that is how the system largely played out.
Of course, Stones played in midfield against Inter Milan from a defensive base. If the teamsheet displayed a back four it wouldn't be inaccurate, but the reality was that Stones played more advanced than Rodri for large parts, with Manu Akanji and Nathan Ake completing a back three either side of Dias.
If Guardiola is strengthening his midfield pack and could potentially lose Kyle Walker as well as Joao Cancelo, he will be left without a senior full-back next season. Never fear, as Stones, Akanji, Ake and teenager Rico Lewis are capable of covering the wide areas, and Rodri has been used to help marshal the central zones.
Say Kovacic joins to replace Gundogan - albeit not a direct replacement - he is a player who can cover the defensive midfield areas if Rodri dropped back. So too, obviously, can Rice, who has also shown his abilities to drive forward in recent seasons.
The external criticisms of a potential move for Rice are how he would get enough game time ahead of Rodri. Maybe this City side are finally versatile enough to play with two defensive midfielders - the dreaded 'double pivot' - allowing Stones and the full-backs to drive on, with Rodri dropping back and Rice or Kovacic going box to box.
Maybe it doesn't have to be a case of Rodri or Rice or Kovacic. Maybe all three can play in the same starting lineup, even if that means a slight change in role for Rodri.
