According to my Everton supporting friends Rodwell started twelve out of the first thirteen games before a combination of injuries, David Moyes and that nasty, cheating, diving rat bastard Suarez got him sent off.
Just had a look at the specific stats, only played about 200mins of football this calender year so far. Must have had a long lay-off.
That'd still be 10-15 guys out of ~250. Quite far from being common.
A common suggestion is that his HG status was a key reason which might well be true. Who knows though. If he doesn't pan out, it's not that big of a loss but if he does, it's an inspired signing. Until proven otherwise, I'll believe that anyone claims he's on 100k+ is just bluster by someone who would leave people to believe that everyone from City is (and they aren't).
I agree. But somebody who is worth £15m should be one of those 10 or 15.
But you nailed it, if it doesn't work out, it doesn't matter to City. And that's the crux of the matter really...they can afford to take a £15m hit, because there is no risk attached to it for City.
Of course, if the wages are high it's a problem. There's no way of knowing of course, the Echo's report is interesting because they are typically on the ball with Scouse related stuff...but it does sounds bizzare.