At first glance, Rodrigo Hernández Cascante does not look like your usual Pep Guardiola player. That is precisely the reason why Manchester City made him their record and, so far, only signing of the summer.

At 6ft 2in, Rodri is not particularly tall, but the 23-year-old former Atletico Madrid man is good in the air for a defensive midfield player. He is also athletic and rangy, covering the ground in grass-gobbling strides, with the lean, muscular torso of a cage fighter.

Whatever the stereotypical Spanish midfielder is supposed to look like - small, tricky, fast and elusive - Rodri shatters it.

Where you would normally expect Guardiola to invest heavily in skilful, attacking players - the scorers and creators of goals, the crowd-pleasing players with the skill to unpick locked defences - Rodri has been signed to pick pockets instead, to steal the ball and relieve the opposition of valuable possession inside City’s half.

He is a player, as technically sound as he is, who will bring more solidity to the side, a long-term successor to the increasingly fragile Fernandinho.

They may have won the domestic treble last term, another fantastic return for Guardiola, but when the Brazilian was injured, City’s vulnerability rose. Rodri, who has a degree in business studies and economics, was signed as an extra insurance policy.