Rodri to undergo surgery on new injury and miss start of Manchester City’s season | OneFootball

Manchester City will be without defensive midfield star Rodri for the start of the 2026/27 season owing to surgery on an unknown injury, it has been revealed.

The medical problem arrives at a highly sensitive time for Sporting Director Hugo Viana, who has spent the opening weeks of the summer transfer window establishing structural continuity for the post-Pep Guardiola era whilst also targeting midfield reinforcement.

While losing an arguably irreplaceable midfield star would previously have compromised summer planning, Manchester City have already acted with clear foresight to reinforce the first-team engine room – in large part down to Bernardo Silva’s exit.

The club completed a record-breaking £116 million agreement for Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliot Anderson this month, with the player successfully finalising a medical at England’s training base in Kansas and agreeing to personal terms with City.

The Englishman’s explosive box-to-box profile and versatility provides Maresca with a Premier League-ready reinforcement, allowing the staff to now navigate the new fitness layoff without forcing pressure on the remaining senior roster in August.

Rodri to be sidelined for start of 2026/27 season

Now, according to MailSport’s Jack Gaughan, Rodri is set to undergo surgery on a ‘mystery injury’ after Spain’s FIFA World Cup campaign this summer, and as such will miss the start of Manchester City’s new 2026/27 season.

The report specifies that rehabilitation will ‘not be a long process’, while Manchester City themselves declined to comment on the story.

Latest on Rodri’s Man City future?

As for the latest on the Spaniard’s future at the Etihad Stadium, the 30-year-old is said to still have a contract offer on the table from Manchester City, although talks are ‘not thought to be active’ at present.

Where does all of this leave City for the new season?

While the ‘mystery’ label of the issue keeps fans guessing, the decision to undergo immediate surgical intervention ensures the midfielder will clear out the problem before City board their flight to Hong Kong and South Korea for an August 1 opening match against Inter Milan.

The absence will also place a spotlight on other options absent from the World Cup like Rico Lewis and Nico Gonzalez, both of whom continue to find their Etihad Stadium futures in doubt this summer.

Simultaneously, the quiet pause around contract negotiations with Rodri brings an ongoing narrative as Hugo Viana plots out the squad roster to hand over to Enzo Maresca for the forthcoming season.

With Rodri’s current terms running until June 2027, the hierarchy will be aware that entering the final 12 months of a key asset’s deal significantly shifts the leverage back to the player’s camp amid lingering interest from Real Madrid.