Man City get glowing review of Rodri replacement

Tom Weber

• Updated: 7 Oct 2024 17:29 BST
• 3 min read

Manchester City target Samuele Ricci 'can play with any coach in any championship,' according to Torino director Davide Vagnati.

The linchpin of Pep Guardiola's side will miss the rest of the season after suffering damage to his ACL in the crunch clash with Arsenal last month. Rodri is not expected to return to action until the 2025/26 campaign and this has compelled Man City to act.

The Premier League champions have been linked with a host of names as potential replacements for the Spain superstar and one of the players most persistently associated with the Cityzens has been Samuele Ricci.

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The Torino midfielder has enjoyed a spectacular rise to prominence since joining the club for €8.5 million from Empoli in 2022 and he played a starring role in Italy's historic 3-1 victory over France in September.

Ricci earning plaudits

After his performance against Les Bleus, Italy boss Luciano Spalletti described the 23-year-old as 'a player of substance' who can reach the 'international level' and who thrived despite playing out of position.

Since then, Ricci has continued to earn plaudits despite the fact that Torino have struggled to pick up points in recent games, narrowly losing to the likes of Inter and Lazio and crashing out of the Coppa Italian to the midfielder's former club Empoli.

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Torino sporting director Davide Vagnati has now responded to the speculation linking his star man with a January switch to Man City. While he refused to confirm any interest, he did suggest that Ricci has the ability to play for any club in the world.

"I don’t want to talk about Manchester or non-Manchester [links]. It’s nice to retrace the purchase of Ricci. We took him when he was very young and I must say that it was an important operation.

“The president believed in it, like all of us, spending a significant amount. The boy was very good, he grew a lot from all points of view: I think he can play with any coach in any championship.”