Man City injury news: ‘Realistic’ Rodri return verdict delivered after “massive blow” before new Premier League season

Manchester City expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany has suggested that star midfielder Rodri may not return to his very best until the end of 2025 or beginning of 2026.

The 29-year-old spent the majority of last season on the sidelines as a result of suffering a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament injury last September which required surgery.

Rodri made his long-awaited comeback eight months later as a substitute in Man City’s penultimate Premier League fixture of the 2024-25 season against Bournemouth on May 20.

The 2024 Ballon d’Or winner was also part of Pep Guardiola’s squad at the FIFA Club World Cup earlier this summer and featured in all four matches before City were eliminated in the last 16 by Al-Hilal.

Rodri’s final appearance at the tournament held in the United States was against the Saudi Arabian giants, but he was taken off 10 minutes into extra time with what is thought to have been a groin problem, though it has also been suggested that he is still feeling the effects of his previous knee injury.

Speaking prior to Man City’s 3-0 friendly win over Palermo last weekend, Guardiola confirm that Rodri picked up a “big injury” at the Club World Cup and he is unlikely to return to full fitness until after the September international break.

The Catalan coach remains hopeful that Rodri can gain some first-team minutes across City’s opening three Premier League matches of the 2025-26 season against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton & Hove Albion in August, but McInerney has suggested that a swift return is not realistic.

Rodri could aim for December/January return to full fitness

Reacting to the news of Rodri’s injury setback, McInerney told Sports Mole: “Rodri is the best player in the world, so it's a massive blow...I think City probably expected this to an extent. It sounds like he actually might still be on the bench every now and then, just not playing regularly because of the nature of the injury. Fit, but don't push him.

“I was reading about the (ACL) injury and how they actually treat it when it happened. I had no idea how invasive it is. They have to replace the (torn) ligament and often they do a graft of some ligament from a hamstring. The stretchiness, for want of a better term, is different to what would be in your knee, where it’d usually be, and so it has to essentially be stretched and stretched to get that elasticity. That can take an awful long time.

“This is why injuries are so common, especially then in the muscle where they've taken the graft from. It's a really bad injury and this is why injuries happen afterwards because the body has to sort of adapt to it, stretch to it and shape around the graft.

“I think Man City were probably always expecting this. Guardiola made it very obvious when this happened that they weren't expecting him to be at his best for a long time. I remember him saying, at the time, December/January or something like that of the following season and it feels like that is probably what they're aiming at.

“You hope for the best because he was back at the Club World Cup. You hope that maybe you don’t have to go through that, but that's the very best-case scenario. It's not a realistic one.”

Man City have “more than enough” midfield quality in Rodri absence

McInerney believes that the presence of Rodri in Man City’s team would given them a much stronger chance of winning the Premier League title, but Guardiola still has “more than enough” quality midfield options at his disposal in the absence of the Spaniard.

“Obviously the purchase of [Tijjani] Reijnders is very exciting," McInerney added. “He's a cracking midfielder and we still have the quality in the experienced lads like Bernardo [Silva], [Ilkay] Gundogan, [Mateo] Kovacic, we'll probably lean on Nico Gonzalez a little bit more.

“We have the quality and they should be more than enough to get past most sides in the Premier League, so I'm expecting City to still be fine to an extent, but it is a blow. My confidence goes from ‘I think we can challenge’ to ‘I think we can win the league’ with Rodri, because Rodri's that good.

“Unfortunately, It does feel that we're going to have to wait for a long time to see the very best of Rodri. Maybe around Christmas time there's a big improvement in his playing time, but for now I think we have to be patient as City fans because it's such a complicated injury.

“It doesn't heal, your body adapts to it, adapts to the changes and that's going to take an awful lot of pushing essentially of his own body.

Man City fans need to be patient with Rodri’s recovery

“I’ve seen people saying he obviously wasn't ready (to play at the Club World Cup) but that's not really how it works. At some point you have to start putting pressure on it and stretching that new ligament out and you have to start running.

“People say he could have waited a little bit longer, but you could have waited until the start of the season and it would have happened then, because ultimately it's the pressure you put on it and you have to play football.

“Let’s no act like he was [rushed back into] training and started playing, he was in full training for two months beforehand. It's just unfortunate, but it's the nature of the injury and we'll have to be patient as City fans.”

McInerney has also shared his thoughts on the importance of both Josko Gvardiol and Phil Foden returning to full fitness as soon as possible, after they missed the pre-season trip to Palermo, the latter of whom is nursing a knock to his ankle.

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