Pep Guardiola makes Rodri contract plea and discusses Ballon d’Or winner’s injury struggles | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has made a plea to director of football Hugo Viana to tie Rodri down to a new long-term deal at the Etihad Stadium.

Rodri has less than 18 months left on his current contract at Manchester City, like Guardiola, and is slowly but surely returning to his best self in the backdrop of an injury ravaged 18 months sparked by an ACL injury he sustained in September 2024.

The 29-year-old’s father recently gave an interview over the midfielder’s club future, with Manchester City executives understood to be relaxed over a renewal for the first-ever Ballon d’Or winner in the club’s history.

Since joining City from Atletico Madrid in 2019, Rodri has made his name as one of the greatest midfielders in Premier League history and one of the finest players to have played under Guardiola.

Taking over the baton as Manchester City’s number six from Fernandinho is no mean feat, with Rodri arguably surpassing the legendary Brazilian in many respects and providing a one-stop solution in the middle of the park for Guardiola over the years.

Speaking in a press conference on Friday, Guardiola was asked about Rodri’s recent form. “Yeah, by far (he’s getting better). As much as he’s not injured, and long weeks in work and training, yeah,” the Catalan said.

The Manchester City manager was further probed on why it has taken the length of time that it has for Rodri to forego his injury troubles and start returning to his best.

Guardiola added: “We came back too early, earlier. Our desire to come back, him especially back, we came back earlier. That’s why it was longer, it’s a good lesson. The human beings have a process; you know the recovery, we say three or four days.

“The human being has a time for recovery. There are players that can recover earlier, like Bernardo (Silva) for example, or Phil (Foden) or whatever, and the other one needs more time. But the human beings, when you are injured, there is a time, you can do whatever you want.

“Go to the pool, go hiking, go to whatever you want. You need proper time to recover. It was 18 months now, but he came back earlier, in the (FIFA Club) World Cup and the other one, and the set-backs. We wanted this half and needed a little bit more time.

“Still he’s not his best, but every time, his mood, how he’s training for example, and he’s playing, many things – he’s a special player.”

On whether he views Rodri as a fundamental part of Manchester City’s squad for the years to come, Guardiola said: “I would love that desperately. I would love. Rodri is Rodri. A player with as much age as he has, more wisdom, more understanding of the game. There are players who feel that when they’re on the pitch, not just the manager, his mates, we feel better.

“That is experience, timing, especially what I’ve said many times; there are players who are defined in the bigger stages, in the difficulties, and Rodri is one of them. Like Bernie (Bernardo Silva), like Ruben (Dias), many of them like I had in the past, like Kevin (De Bruyne), like Gundo (Ilkay Gundogan) – sorry – a lot of them, don’t make me name one player, it can feel bad.

“That defines the biggest teams in the biggest clubs. You cannot achieve what we achieved if you don’t have huge personalities. Always I’ve said many times, when you have seasons and Premier Leagues, and Champions Leagues, you don’t win 5-0 every weekend. This is in fairy tales and stories, it’s fine.

“I know the people say, ‘How good was Man City?’ Man City was good, we won a lot of games, 1-0, 0-1, playing rubbish, playing not good. But personalities there, how he handles these moments, how he deals with that, it comes from them and that’s why we had success.”

Rodri is expected to start for Manchester City against Newcastle United on Saturday evening as the Blues look to keep up the pressure on Premier League leaders Arsenal and build on their recent purple patch with a fifth win on the trot in all competitions.