🏆 Ballon d'OneFootball: The perfect midfielder in 8th ... | OneFootball

Welcome to the fourth annual edition of the Ballon d’OneFootball as we continue our countdown of the top 25 players in the world right now. Here’s an explainer how we decided on a top 25.

Here’s the list so far.

And today we have …

8th: Rodri, Manchester City and Spain

(New entry)

The modern game’s ideal holding midfielder? He just might be.

For Pep Guardiola at least, and what he wants from a Manchester City side who stormed to the treble last season, it would seem so.

In a side who won it all and with arguably the greatest goalscorer of his generation spearheading the charge, it is the Spain star at the centre of it all who makes everything tick.

It is little wonder that Barcelona legend Sergio Busquets publicly called upon them to move for Rodri as his replacement when he departed in May.

But there likely isn’t a fee which could force City to the negotiating table for a player who is invaluable on the market and irreplaceable on the field.

He has already repaid the €70m forked out to Atlético de Madrid in 2019 — an amount which made him the club’s then-record arrival — with his performances.

Not least of all thanks to his 2022/23 campaign for the ages. Erling Haaland may have hogged the headlines but regular watchers of the Cityzens are aware of just how much appreciation the midfield lynchpin deserves.

Rodri started in 56 of 61 games and Lionel Messi (57 in 2011/12) is the only outfield player to ever register more in a season for a Guardiola side.

The midfielder’s 4,478 minutes of action eclipses every other member of the treble-winning squad and his reliability doesn’t just extend to taking to the pitch.

On it, he is always available to receive the ball, either to sweep City forward or to assist a team-mate in trouble by finding space between opposing players where none appears to be available, often inviting pressure before swatting it away with a swift spin or rapid pass to break the lines.

And no pass is wasted.

Nobody in the league completed more (4,068), while he was also top of the charts for initiating open play moves which led to goals in addition to involvement in goals build-up – both of which were four higher than any other player.

Those weren’t the only league tables he topped either. The Spain international was also above everyone else for ball carries (702), progressive carries (384) and total carry distance (4,971 metres).

Defensively, his awareness and reading of the game were also elite, with his season statistics ranking Rodri as top in terms of recoveries in both the Premier League (466) and Champions League (105) – and by some distance too.

That was enough in continental competition to earn him Champions League Player of the Season honours.

Fittingly, that tournament ended with him finally claiming some of the spotlight for himself.

Having only opened his Champions League account in the competition with a wonder strike against Bayern Munich in the quarter-final to set City on their way, he got the only goal in the final against Inter.

It may be the most important goal in club history.

For all of the less-heralded work he does, few deserved that moment more than Rodri.

Click here for every player named so far and their profiles.