Guardiola labels new signing Rodri as key for 'the next decade'

New signing Rodri has earned his manager's praise after an impressive performance against Yokohama F Marinos in Japan, being marked as the club's holding midfielder for "the next decade".

The English champions put an end to their pre-season campaign in good manner, winning 3-1 against the J-League side in Japan, with goals from Kevin De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Lukas Nmecha.

Whilst Guardiola remarked De Bruyne's great performance, he shifted plenty of his praise towards the Spanish holding midfielder, who signed for the club for a club record fee of £63 million this summer.

Guardiola stated that "Rodri was incredible today. We knew it but today I can assure you we have an incredible holding midfielder for the next decade, or at least the years he will be here with a contract."

He went on to also praise the rest of the squad, saying "Bernardo is back too at his normal level, Sterling continued, and John Stones and Aymeric are back. These guys played incredibly well in the game today."

Manchester City's next fixture will be against Liverpool in the Community Shield on August 4, as they look to face last season's title challengers for a trophy to start the season off.