STUDENT OF THE GAME
Agree with it or not, professional players today have ‘an image’. Those inverted commas are important, and come with an assist from the Daily Mail. Players are overpaid prima donnas who date pop stars and are serial philanderers. They provide heavily-tattooed proof of everything that’s wrong with society, which makes them fair game for the Paparazzi whenever they darken the door of a Poundland or Greggs.
So, when a professional footballer does not fit the Middle England stereotype, it becomes a story. A quick Google of Manchester City new boy Rodri’s name elicits the following factoids: he has no tattoos, no social media accounts, and loves studying so much there’s almost no chance of him remaining in football beyond his playing days.
That’s right, the most important things you can know about City’s club-record €70 million signing, the one player Pep Guardiola wanted above all others, were that he’s never had any ink done, eschews digital echo chambers, and thinks learning stuff is good.
Forget that in buying the 23-year-old former Villarreal and Atletico Madrid midfielder, Pep has acquired the most promising player in his position in the world, an heir to 34-year-old Fernandinho as the linchpin of City’s midfield, not to mention Sergio Busquets for the Spanish national team.
Forget, too, that Rodri has all the attributes to be the modern upgrade on Guardiola himself – a highly technical recycler of possession who can win the ball back and play it simply.
And forget this is the perfect under-the-radar Pep player, who might just have improved the perfect team. Yes, really.
Rodrigo Hernandez Cascante has always loved football, although probably not in the way you would expect.
Born into a family of Atletico Madrid fans in Majadahonda, a satellite city to the north-west of the Spanish capital, Rodri’s childhood hero was not future manager Diego Simeone or the club’s legendary forward Kiko, but Zinedine Zidane of crosstown rivals Real. He even owned a Madrid top with Zizou’s name and number
