Football

Rodri: "When It comes to football, I become an addict"

Manchester City midfielder Rodri has compared his obsession with football to an addiction.

"My whole life, I have lived between these two worlds. One football, the other the “real world.”

Sometimes the boys make fun of me for being “normal.” It’s funny because if you asked my missus or even my mum, they would say that I am the furthest thing from normal. When it comes to football, I am an addict.

If I am normal it is probably in the sense that I don’t care about social media or £400 trainers. Since I was a kid, I have simply been chasing a feeling.

I didn’t say, “Oh, I want to be a footballer so I can have a Ferrari.” No, it was because what my heroes did on the pitch made me feel alive. I remember being five years old, and there was a communal pool in the middle of our neighborhood, and a little garden. In the summer, it was: football, pool, football, pool. Home for lunch. Back in the pool. Back in the garden.

By the age of 10, if I played a match and I didn’t perform well, I couldn’t speak to my parents for a whole day. I was too upset with myself. I am sure that my mom was looking at me, thinking: “What the ***** is wrong with him? It’s just a game.”

But for me, it was almost like a drug," Rodri wrote in his column for The Player's Tribune.

Rodri has been with Manchester City since 2019. During his time with the Cityzens the 28-year-old midfielder has won the Premier League four times, the Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup, as well as two Carabao Cups, the FA Cup, and the Community Shield. This season, the Spaniard has not yet made any appearances.

Rodri's contract with Manchester City runs until the summer of 2027. Transfermarkt values the player at 130 million euros.