Manchester City just got hit with the kind of news that makes a manager’s offseason plan feel like a waste of paper. Rodri, the 30-year-old midfield anchor who just helped Spain win the World Cup, is headed for back surgery. No timeline for his return. None.
This isn’t some fresh injury that popped up out of nowhere. Rodri has been dealing with back issues for a while now. He basically missed all of the 2024/25 season. Last year he only started 17 Premier League games for City. That’s not nothing for a guy who used to be the most durable player in Pep Guardiola’s system.
The Athletic broke the news on Wednesday. Rodri’s summer with Spain was brilliant — he played a massive role in La Roja lifting the trophy for the second time. But now he goes under the knife, and all that goodwill from the World Cup run fades into the background noise of rehab and recovery timelines that nobody can give you.
What This Means for Enzo Maresca
This is Maresca’s first season leading City. He took over after Guardiola finally stepped away, and the job was already going to be hard enough. Now his best midfielder is out indefinitely. The club bought Elliot Anderson this summer to help with depth, which makes more sense now than it did at the time. But Anderson alone isn’t replacing Rodri.
There’s also the Real Madrid thing. Reports have been floating around for months that Rodri’s camp and City aren’t seeing eye to eye on a contract extension. And when Real Madrid hears that, they start circling. If Rodri misses significant time and the season goes sideways, those rumors are only going to get louder.
City opens the 2026/27 Premier League season at home against Bournemouth on August 23. Maresca has been talking about challenging Arsenal at the top of the table, and the roster is still talented enough to do it. But losing Rodri for any extended stretch changes the math. It changes the whole feel of the season before a single meaningful game gets played.
The club hasn’t said when Rodri will be back. They probably don’t know yet. Back surgeries are tricky. Some guys come back in three months. Some take a year. Some never quite get back to the same level. For a player who turns 31 next summer, every month of recovery matters a little more than it used to.
City fans are hoping for the best. But hope isn’t a game plan.
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