Rodri reveals why defensive midfielders are not recognised in damning Ballon d’Or admission

Manchester City’s leading Ballon d’Or candidate for 2024 has revealed why he believes those who star in defensive midfield are often not recognised by individual accolades.

The Spaniard, who has been at the beating heart of everything excellent for Manchester City since arriving at the club in the summer of 2019, is the frontrunner at the club to claim the exclusive Ballon d’Or award this year.

Receiving his nomination earlier in September, Rodri stands alongside the likes of Erling Haaland, Jude Bellingham, and Vinicius Jr in being a clear favourite for the award which has been dominated by Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in modern football history.

However, the clear difference this time around is that a defensive midfielder is being spoken about firmly in the conversation for having a strong chance of claiming the award – a unique debate within the game.

Speaking exclusively to Joe Hart for BBC Sounds’ Football Daily podcast, Rodri spoke at length regarding why he believes the star defensive midfielders of the world are not often recognised by individual awards, including the upcoming Ballon d’Or title.

“I think what we spoke about before, I think before that role was more defensive than offensive. And we all know that football, and the marketing of football, what the fans love about football is scoring goals and assists, and I think because of this it makes the decisions always to be part of strikers, wingers, forward midfielders,” Rodri admitted.

“I think that’s what I think about this. And also because the role of centre-backs and the keeper, or the holding midfielders, as back as you go, it’s less glamorous.

“But the people who play that position will really think that we can value the importance of that role, and we can value that if these guys plays in these teams, they become champions or Treble or wherever, maybe he’s the key part of all of this, and maybe he deserves… I’m not talking about me, I’m talking about lots of players in the past, I could say many Spanish ones, English ones, many of them.”

The Manchester City star continued, “But at the same time, individual awards is not something that you go home sad about this, because we all know that in football we play for winning collectively, and individual trophies is a consequence of your work and what they think about your work, but it’s not our aim to win individual trophies.

“It’s something you love because they recognise your work, and that’s my mentality. And I’ll tell you something; midfielders are the most, they care most about the team. If you ask a midfielder; do you rather win collectively or individually, they will tell you collectively.

“Maybe a striker is more selfish, they have to be more selfish in his personality and cares more about these kind of trophies, but midfielders in general, I would say no.”

Manchester City have been working tirelessly this summer to try and navigate their way around featuring in contests without Rodri, having lost their first four matches without the Spaniard last season, including three matches in a row.

Mateo Kovacic has emerged as a commendable back-up option to the 28-year-old, starring particularly against Chelsea and West Ham in successive Premier League away matches, scoring against the former on the opening weekend of the season.