Rodri Undergoes Back Surgery: Impact on Manchester City's Season
Manchester City will start the new campaign without one of their pillars. Rodri has undergone back surgery and faces what the club describe as a “short period of rehabilitation”, leaving Enzo Maresca to plan the opening weeks of his reign without the midfielder who so often knits everything together.
Maresca revealed on Friday that the Spain international was due to go under the knife on Monday, stressing that rest is now non-negotiable for a player who has carried a heavy load for club and country.
“He needs a holiday, he needs to rest and recover and then he will be back with us,” the City manager said, underlining both the physical and mental toll of the past year on his midfield anchor.
City have not put a date on his return. That uncertainty hangs over a crucial stretch: the Community Shield against Arsenal on 16 August, then the Premier League opener at Bournemouth a week later. Maresca’s first competitive matches could arrive without his most reliable on-field reference point.
According to the club, Rodri had “been feeling discomfort for some time but has now undergone a procedure to address the issue”. The problem has clearly been bubbling under the surface, and City have chosen to act now rather than gamble on managing it through another relentless season.
The operation comes at a delicate moment in Rodri’s career. He has a year left on his contract and has been heavily linked with Real Madrid, the speculation only intensifying after he guided Spain to World Cup glory this month and collected the player of the tournament award. His stock has never been higher; his body has rarely been under more strain.
Injuries have already carved chunks out of his recent club seasons. The past two campaigns have been repeatedly disrupted, most brutally by the torn anterior cruciate ligament that ruled him out for the majority of City’s 2024-25 campaign. For a player who once felt indestructible at the base of midfield, the pattern is becoming a concern.
Maresca must now juggle short-term solutions with long-term planning. Can City squeeze one more defining year out of Rodri, or does this surgery mark the start of a managed transition away from total dependence on him?
Gvardiol commits long term
While Rodri heads for the treatment room, another cornerstone has nailed his colours firmly to the mast. As reported by BBC Sport in June, Josko Gvardiol has signed a new five-year contract that runs until the summer of 2031, a clear statement of faith from both club and player.
The 24-year-old Croatia international has already packed plenty into his short time in Manchester. Since arriving from RB Leipzig in August 2023, he has made 122 appearances and lifted six trophies, including the Premier League in his debut campaign. Those numbers tell their own story: trusted, durable, central to the project.
With Gvardiol locked in for the long haul and Rodri temporarily out of the picture, City’s summer suddenly feels like a snapshot of their wider reality. One era-defining midfielder fighting his way back to full fitness and facing constant transfer noise; a younger defensive leader committing his prime years to the club.
Maresca’s challenge is clear. Keep the spine strong, manage the minutes of a world champion returning from surgery, and ensure that when Rodri does step back into midfield, it is as the fulcrum of a side ready to chase everything again – not as a player asked, once more, to carry it all alone.
