Sawt Falasteen - Maresca says Man City must fill Rodri void after Barca switch

Rodri, a World Cup winner and Ballon d'Or recipient, ended a seven-year spell at the Etihad Stadium during which he helped City win four Premier League titles and the Champions League.

His exit leaves a major gap in the squad Maresca inherited from Pep Guardiola, but the Italian is confident it can be filled.

"I'll try to find a new Rodri - it is what it is," said Maresca.

"Rodri, before he arrived here, he didn't win the Ballon d'Or, he didn't win the Champions League, he didn't win the Club World Cup. Then he joined the club and then after he achieved many important things.

"Now the target for us is to try to find the new Rodri.

"When David Silva was here, everyone was worried – Kevin (De Bruyne) arrived. When Sergio Aguero was here, everyone was worried – Erling (Haaland) arrived. When Ferdinando left, Rodri arrived. It's just about this.

"When they leave, you need to be good and recruit the next one."

Rodri's departure is one of several notable exits from City during the close season, with Bernardo Silva, John Stones, Nathan Ake and Tijjani Reijnders also leaving the club.

Savinho is set to join Tottenham, potentially along with Omar Marmoush, and Nico Gonzalez could also depart before the transfer window closes.

City's only major signing so far has been midfielder Elliot Anderson, but Maresca said he expected further additions before the deadline and insisted he was unconcerned by the scale of the squad overhaul.

"Hopefully we can do the things that we need to do," Maresca said ahead of Sunday's Premier League opener against Bournemouth. "It doesn't help that there are players that for different reasons want to leave, this is for sure.

"But we need to adapt and we don't want to keep players here that don't want to stay.

"The normal thing in transfer windows is that you have to wait because all the clubs try to keep players until the last week and then sell for more money.

"It's normal, I'm not worried about that. When the transfer window closes and we have all the squad there, for sure it will be different."

M.AbuKhalil--SF-PST