Man City scouts dazzled by ‘nearest thing to Rodri’ as sources predict record to fall amid Chelsea threat | OneFootball

Manchester City and Chelsea are closely following the progress of Bayern Munich starlet Aleksandar Pavlovic with their analytics pointing to the fact he could be the nearest thing to Rodri.

Munich-born Pavlovic has emerged as key figure for Bayern under Vincent Kompany. The 21-year-old made his senior debut in late 2023 but has gone from strength to strength in his holding midfield role.

There is little suggestion that Pavlovic would want to leave Munich or indeed that Bayern would allow him to leave, but that does not stop others from admiring him.

Manchester United were linked in the summer, but TEAMtalk can reveal that it is Manchester City and Chelsea who have been doing a considerable amount of work on Pavlovic.

City for their part are always working on what is next – be it for their manager Pep Guardiola or Erling Haaland, or in this case Rodri.

They have Nico Gonzalez operating at the minute in Rodri’s absence and he has been doing okay, but the club have been working hard on if they do need to replace their Spanish talisman in the long-term.

And sources have confirmed one of the names that their scouts and analytics department are raving about is Pavlovic.

His style of reinforcement with a passing range equal to any midfielder in the world, is something that really stands out.

Analytics point to Pavlovic

And it is not just City who are falling for Pavlovic – Chelsea too believe he is emerging as something special.

It is known that Chelsea are looking for at least one new midfielder in 2026 and sources state they could even bring in two.

Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez are outstanding, but Chelsea are worried about having other world-class options. Andrey Santos and Romeo Lavia are held in high-regard, but there is a significant drop off.

Chelsea don’t want that and now their football department are assessing a number of options. We can confirm that – like with City – their analytics are pointing to Pavlovic as potentially the next ‘special’ midfielder to emerge.

Bayern are aware that Pavlovic is special, and there is a reason he has been handed a new contract every year since he emerged onto the scene in 2023. We are told they are already looking at another extension for him.

Should anyone come calling for Pavlovic in 2026, then you are looking at club-record sale numbers. Bayern have never sold a player for £100m – indeed their record sale is Matthijs de Ligt to Manchester United – but that is the sort of level that would be needed to land a player of Pavlovic’s talents.

More Man City transfer news

Another player being tracked by both City and Chelsea is Atalanta wing-back Honest Ahanor, who is being scouted by six other clubs.