Rodri believes that Manchester City are ready-made to welcome Erling Haaland, but will have to change their system for the incoming striker.
City have operated without a recognised striker for the best part of two seasons, with Sergio Aguero injured for much of 2020/21, before he departed last summer and a failed attempt to sign Harry Kane left City without a 'number nine.' Now, it seems that City are in a better position having missed out on Kane, as they have won the race to sign Haaland for just £51m.
Haaland will give City the focal point they have arguably lacked in the last two years, although they have secured back-to-back Premier League titles using a false nine. And midfielder Rodri believes that City's quality means they will be able to adapt their system to accomodate Haaland's strengths.
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"The Viking is joining," he joked in an interview with Diario AS.
"He is a player who’ll change the way we play. We use a false nine, which gives you some things but also takes away others. It was clear to me that Haaland would fit in. We had a space in the squad that he is going to fill."
City saw Haaland's quality up close in the 2021 Champions League quarter finals, and defender Aymeric Laporte alluded to those ties when the Blues announced their new signing. On Twitter, he joked that he's glad to be playing with Haaland, rather than chasing after him.
Rodri added something similar, suggesting that other City players were impressed with Haaland following their two-legged victory.
"He is an amazing physical specimen," said Rodri.
"After playing against them in Dortmund, I said to Rúben Dias, who is also physically something else: ‘He battered right through you!”
Rodri also spoke of his own goalscoring form this season, as he hailed City's quality of spreading their goals around in the absence of a natural striker.
"I’m happy to have taken a wee step up in my goal scoring," he said.
"When you see that you’re always getting a bit more impact near the box and the opponents are defending well back, it’s normal to have a go. We haven’t had just one goal scorer, we’ve all scored. I think almost the entire squad have scored."
