Pep Guardiola hands worrying Rodri fitness update in devastating Manchester City blow | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has revealed the extent of the injury setback suffered by Ballon d’Or holder Rodri at the FIFA Club World Cup in June.

Rodri spent nearly the entirety of the previous season on the sidelines after sustaining an ACL injury in a 2-2 Premier League draw against Arsenal in September 2024, making his return to the pitch late on in a 3-1 win over Bournemouth at the Etihad Stadium in May.

The 29-year-old was desperately missed by Guardiola and co last season as Manchester City secured their lowest points tally in the Premier League (71) since 2016, whilst crashing out of the UEFA Champions League at the Round of 16 stage and losing the FA Cup final to Crystal Palace.

City signed Nico Gonzalez from Porto in January to add much-needed depth to their midfield amidst a growing lack of direct replacements for Rodri, who recovered ahead of time and returned to full first-team training in the spring.

However, the Spain international suffered an injury setback in the midst of Manchester City’s FIFA Club World Cup campaign in the United States earlier this summer, which raised concerns over how long the Blues would have to cope without their best player.

Manchester City need as many leaders on the pitch if they are to reclaim the Premier League title from Liverpool next season – and Guardiola will be extremely cautious with how he manages the Ballon d’Or holder’s minutes when Rodri does return to action.

City travel to Wolves for their opening Premier League game of the 2025-26 campaign next weekend, with new signing Rayan Ait-Nouri in line to make his first league start for the Blues against the club he left to join Manchester City for £31 million in June.

A pre-season friendly against Palermo on Saturday will give Guardiola a chance to assess how his squad is looking as director of football Hugo Viana and the Manchester City board look to trim what has become a bloated first-team squad before the transfer window shuts on September 1.

Jack Grealish, Kalvin Phillips and James McAtee have not travelled to Italy to face Palermo as the English trio seek transfers for the upcoming season, with Everton currently in talks with Manchester City over a season-long loan for Grealish – and a move to Nottingham Forest being mooted for McAtee.

However, speaking ahead of City’s first and last pre-season game of the summer, Guardiola has revealed that it will not be for another six to eight weeks that Rodri will be fully fit after suffering a significant injury setback in the United States.

“Rodri is getting better but he had a big injury in the last game (of the Club World Cup) against Al Hilal. He has trained better in the last few days, hopefully after the international break is when he will be really fit,” Guardiola said, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News.

It is worth noting that Guardiola does expect Rodri to be able to contribute in some way, shape or form in Manchester City’s opening run of Premier League fixtures, which will see the Blues face each of Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United in their first five games.

“Hopefully in these games, he (Rodri) can play some minutes but what is important is he doesn’t have pain because we don’t want this Rodri coming back injured,” the Manchester City boss added.

“We try desperately to avoid that. He (Rodri) has been training the last two sessions with us and that’s good.”

In addition to Rodri – Phil Foden, Claudio Echeverri and Josko Gvardiol were all deemed unfit to make the journey to Italy for the friendly against Palermo, with one eye on the tricky Premier League opener against Wolves next week.