“It was a great chance for the club to sign that kind of player," said Rodri last summer of new Manchester City recruit Kalvin Phillips. “We are both pretty young and I think we can play together or alone.
It’s good for the team to have competition and he has qualities that can improve the team." In the following 12 months, Rodri was undroppable as City won the treble - thanks to his Champions League final-winning goal - and Phillips had a predominantly watching brief, playing just 21 times at an average of 28 minutes per game, with just four starts.
Two of those came after the Premier League title had been won. And despite Rodri's insistence that Phillips could play next to him, they were only on the pitch at the same time for 21 minutes across the whole of last season.
And for six of those, Rodri was playing at centre-back. So it was significant, then, that Pep Guardiola played Rodri and Phillips in a double pivot for the first time against Bayern Munich on Wednesday. ALSO READ: Rico Lewis comment shows he can solve two midfield problems for Man City this season Of Phillips' 21 appearances so far for City, 13 of those came off the bench as a direct replacement for Rodri, with another coming when the Spaniard wasn't playing.