Signing for Man City was a dream move but two years later I was telling people not to do it
Say the name Jack Rodwell to some football fans and their first thought will be 'Netflix'. Rodwell became famous all over again when he was an unwitting star of Sunderland 'Till I Die, the streaming series that stumbled across a ratings winner as it followed the Black Cats' rapid demise.
Rodwell's cameo in it saw chief executive Martin Bain trying to get him to terminate his contract and the footage made him an enemy of Sunderland fans. But for a time, Rodwell was one of the most highly-rated young players in English football.
At the age of 16 he was in the Everton team and quickly settled into all-action midfield role, playng 109 games for the club and scoring eight times. It was inevitable he would attract interest from bigger clubs and in August 2021, Manchester City came calling, signing the 21-year-old for £12m, rising to £17m in add-ons.
READ MORE: I didn't want to leave Man City - but one phone call made it clear I wasn't wanted
"Man City are a massive club, the league champions, so it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It's a dream come true," Rodwell said.
It wouldn't take long for the dream to fizzle out.
Rodwell had been away with Everton on a pre-season training camp in Spain when he found out City were interested and the deal was done quickly. He admitted it was "bittersweet" leaving his boyhood club, but he was enthused about the chance of challenging for titles.
“I remember Yaya Toure, Silva, Aguero…big players. It was a good opportunity for me; great club and great people and the football opportunity was unreal," he told The Athletic in 2021.
“In training, Silva stood out the most. But then Yaya too. If we needed a big performance and someone to change a game he could go from third gear to sixth gear and win the game for you with sheer power.”
Rodwell made 16 appearances under Roberto Mancini, scoring twice, and felt in a good place under the Italian. He came on for the final 21 minutes of the FA Cup final defeat to Wigan and both of his goals came on the final day of the Premier League. But Mancini's departure and the arrival of Manuel Pellegrini changed things.
“That was a hard one for me because obviously Mancini signed me, by the way this is part and parcel of football, new managers come in, new players come in, that’s just part of it," Rodwell
“But for me, at that age, it was difficult because I’d gone from playing a lot at Everton and when I was fit Mancini played me as much as I could.
“He was always doing work with me in the video room and then obviously Pellegrini comes in and he signed Fernandinho and it was a little bit more difficult for me to take not playing. But it is what it is, he’s actually a good manager. He won the league.”
There were only 10 appearances in Rodwell's second season, five of which were in the league, and injuries were a regular problem. At times he was so keen to impress that he began to question whether he was trying too hard to stay fit.
In August 2014 Rodwell left the Etihad to move to Sunderland for a fee of around £10m. He has since considered whether he should have been more patient, sticking it out at City to try and prove Pellegrini wrong, but at 23 he just wanted to play and felt the Stadium of Light was the best place for him.
He also didn't feel part of the set-up in the same way he had under Mancini and on moving to the Stadium of Light, he offered some advice to those young players considering a move to what was a star-studded City squad.
"I would probably say don't sign now, I'd say get as much football as you can," Rodwell said when asked his advice to players' in a similar position to him at Everton.
"The first thing I'd ask is, 'how good are you?' You just never know - you could go there, do really well and be winning league titles and everything.
"But just because you're English and young it doesn't mean you're not going to play for Manchester City. I would just say weigh up your options and ask yourself if you want to be playing regularly."
Rodwell made just seven league starts for City and his career never really got going again. There were 76 appearances for Sunderland, 22 for Blackburn Rovers and two for Sheffield United, before he moved to Australia in in 2021. After spells with Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC, he left this summer and is without a club at the age of 33.
You can see why Rodwell cautioned young players against signing for City.
