Manchester City set sights on ‘extraordinary player’ with more interceptions than Rodri

Rodri and Kalvin Phillips are Manchester City’s first and second-choice defensive-midfielders, but Pep Guardiola may be looking to the future if reports are to be believed.

The Premier League champions have reportedly set their sights on Juventus starlet Nicolo Rovella, who has already been called an ‘extraordinary player‘ by Monza boss Raffaele Palladio.

The 21-year-old, who is currently enjoying a productive loan spell at Monza, has allegedly been attracting interest from City.

Journalist Massimo Pavan, writing for Tutto Juve, claims Guardiola’s side are ‘offering more or less’ €30 million (£26m) to take Rovella off Juve’s hands.

Rovella has made 10 Serie A appearances for Monza this season, boasting more tackles per game on average (1.7) than Manuel Akanji, more interceptions (2) than Rodri (1.2). As per WhoScored, the Italian is in Monza’s top five for most accurate passes per 90 (89.2%).

Time will tell if the Sky Blues have a chance of signing him, however, as Rovella has four years remaining on his deal in Turin and is highly rated at the Old Lady.

Juventus spent €26m (£22.4m) to sign the Italian U21 international from Genoa just last year too, so he’d cost a tidy sum in January or next summer.