With Fernandinho's age becoming an area of concern for the club, Manchester City signed Rodri from Atlético Madrid over the summer. Because of the new midfield acquisition, Gündogan's excellent performances as a defensive midfielder at the end of the previous season, and central defender Vincent Kompany's departure, Guardiola planned to use Fernandinho as a back-up central defender throughout the season. An injury to first-choice centre-half Aymeric Laporte just 4 weeks into the season, however, meant that the manager had to rely on Fernandinho to lead his defensive line. He subsequently started nearly every Premier League match following Laporte's injury, with all of his appearances for the season being in central defence. On 28 January 2020, it was announced that he had signed a one-year contract extension with the club.