Pep Guardiola turned to Barcelona legend to solve Rodri injury problem at Manchester City | OneFootball

Manchester City saw their manager turn towards one of the game’s all-time greatest defensive midfielders in an attempt to solve the problems caused by Rodri’s injury.

The Premier League champions have faced a number of difficulties throughout the ongoing campaign, largely owing to fitness and injury problems but also credited to the ageing nature of their playing squad.

The prospect of a difficult campaign first emerged through Oscar Bobb’s long-term leg injury, before the 2-2 home draw with Arsenal brought about news of a double knee injury to Rodri which would rule him out for the large majority of the campaign.

While there had been an expectation that Manchester City would turn towards the transfer market in January to address the problem of a depleted defensive midfield area of the pitch, their significant investment has focussed on defence and attack.

But new reports have indicated that Pep Guardiola took it upon himself to explore one possible solution earlier in the campaign, and for one moment it appeared as though a player had taken him up on the idea.

That is according to the information of Spanish newspaper Sport, who claim that the Manchester City manager had identified Inter Miami’s Sergio Busquets as a ‘secret candidate’ to replace the long-term injured Rodri.

It is claimed, as translated and relayed by Sport Witness, that the former Barcelona midfielder initially said ‘yes’ to joining the Premier League champions, before changing his mind to continue playing with Lionel Messi, Luis Suárez and Jordi Alba at Inter Miami in MLS.

Should Manchester City intensify their search for a new defensive midfielder before next week’s transfer deadline, then their search is expected to take them into the Italian game, which is also home to a full-back target for the club.

Txiki Begiristain and his colleagues have been open to the idea of bringing Douglas Luiz back to the club, albeit only on a straightforward loan agreement until the end of the season with no option to buy.

However, Juventus have stood firm on the Brazilian international, insisting that any loan deal would need to include an obligation to buy, or potential suitors would have to commit to a big-money permanent deal this month.

Elsewhere and Andrea Cambiaso remains a leading transfer target for Manchester City in the full-back role, but a deal is unlikely to be completed this month given the vast difference in valuations of the 24-year-old between the Premier League champions and Juventus.