Rodri's Injury and Its Impact on Manchester City's Era
Rodri’s torn ACL in September 2024 was more than an injury. It was the moment Manchester City’s era of control began to fray.
A month later he was in Paris, lifting the Ballon d'Or, crowned as the game’s most complete midfielder. Yet his knee, and then a string of nagging setbacks, kept dragging him back. The metronome of Guardiola’s City never quite found its familiar rhythm again.
Before that rupture, Rodri had missed just seven games for the club. Seven. Across years of relentless football, he had been the constant. Since then, City’s title run has stalled, their domestic dominance broken, and the club can point squarely at the stop-start nature of his return as a major reason why.
Guardiola saw this coming. In October last year, as Rodri limped through his recovery, the Catalan predicted: “In the World Cup, he will be the best Rodri, and next season he will be the best Rodri.”
He was half right already.
World champion, world standard
At the World Cup in North America, Rodri reappeared in full colour. For Spain, he sat at the base of midfield and dictated everything. He set the tempo, strangled counterattacks, and quietly imposed himself on the tournament. Luis de la Fuente’s side leaned on him as their anchor and emerged with the trophy.
This was confirmation, not revelation. Rodri is irreplaceable for City. The question is how long he is willing to stay and carry that burden, now that Guardiola’s glittering era has closed and only one year remains on his contract.
If he feels this is the moment to move – with Real Madrid circling – City risk losing “the best Rodri” just as he looks ready to dominate again.
Maresca’s calm, City’s concern
Enzo Maresca, Guardiola’s former assistant and now his successor, is not blind to Rodri’s importance. He is, though, publicly unfazed by the noise.
“First of all I have to say, that around big players there are always speculations so I am not worried about that,” he said at his first press conference as City manager. “I think it is normal, also because they won the World Cup, because he is one of the best players.
“I think every manager wants to have Rodri because he is a top player. But now, surgery on Monday [on his back]. He needs a holiday, he needs to rest and recover and then he will be back with us.”
The words are calm. The reality is far more precarious.
Rodri has been the system within the system. Under Guardiola he drifted between roles in a fluid structure, dropping into the back line, stepping into midfield, launching attacks from deep and, crucially, leading. He arrives back at City as a World Cup-winning captain, not just a holding midfielder.
Strip that out of Maresca’s blueprint and the gaps are glaring.
A midfield built on hope
Beyond Rodri and new £116 million signing Elliot Anderson, City’s midfield options look thin for a club that has grown used to suffocating control.
Nico Gonzalez was brought in as something close to a like-for-like cover during Rodri’s ACL layoff. Instead, he became one of the more forgettable chapters in City’s lavish January 2025 spending. He barely convinced Guardiola, spent most of the run-in on the bench, and now could be moved on.
Tijjani Reijnders told a different story early on. His £46m switch from AC Milan looked shrewd when he started brightly last summer. Then the Premier League grind bit. His influence faded, his minutes shrank, and he drifted into a bit-part role after the turn of the year. City hope that with a season of adaptation behind him, he can finally impose himself.
Then there are the names already earmarked for the exit. Mateo Kovacic, Rico Lewis and Kalvin Phillips have all reportedly been deemed surplus to requirements. Remove Rodri from that group as well and the picture becomes stark: Maresca would be walking into a summer where City must rebuild an entire midfield on the fly.
Anderson’s opening
For Anderson, the timing could be perfect.
The 23-year-old arrives from Nottingham Forest with the numbers – and the reputation – of a midfielder built for the Premier League’s hardest battles. Under Thomas Tuchel, he has become central to England’s plans, and at club level he has developed into one of the most complete all-rounders in the division.
Last season, no player in the Premier League won possession more often than Anderson (306 times). No one won more duels (297). Despite the creative presence of Morgan Gibbs-White at Forest, Anderson still led the team for chances created with 54, including nine big chances. At the 2026 World Cup, he shared the tournament’s joint-most tackles (18) – with Rodri.
He can break play up, build from deep and create. He can do it all, and he looks ready to shoulder the No.6 role if Rodri does leave for Madrid.
The plan, though, is not to leave him alone.
Bouaddi and the next generation
City have tracked Ayyoub Bouaddi closely. The 18-year-old emerged as the breakout star of Morocco’s World Cup run, and the club had been expected to sign him from Lille and then immediately loan him back.
That stance may not survive the summer.
If Rodri departs, City could bring Bouaddi in sooner than planned and keep him at the Etihad, accelerating his development inside Maresca’s structure. It would be a bold play: an 18-year-old, a new £116m signing, and a manager still finding his feet, all asked to replace the most reliable midfielder of the Guardiola era.
This is not the smooth, incremental evolution City have grown used to. This is a reset.
Leaders gone, safety net fraying
The upheaval is not limited to the pitch. Guardiola’s emotional exit has already torn a hole through the club’s identity. Two of the dressing room’s most influential figures have gone with him.
Bernardo Silva, captain last season, has joined Real Madrid. John Stones has left for Inter. Both are serial winners, both were central voices in a dressing room that knew how to win under pressure.
Take Guardiola out. Remove Bernardo and Stones. Now imagine City starting a new season without Rodri as well. The spine that defined their dominance would be gone.
City’s hierarchy know the cautionary tales. Manchester United and Arsenal both stumbled badly after Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger stepped away. Stability vanished. Identity blurred. The rebuilds dragged on for years.
They are desperate to avoid the same fate. Yet Maresca arrives with a mixed spell at Chelsea on his CV and a squad in flux. Continuity, not revolution, is what he needs. A Rodri move to Real Madrid would drag the club closer to the chaos they have long watched from afar.
Maresca’s gamble with time
Maresca, for his part, is trying to embrace the scale of the task.
“I want to say it is a privilege because the reason why the club decided to go for me, that is a privilege,” he said. “I have said many times, I consider Pep the best coach in the world in the last 20-25 years. It is a challenge.
“Also the history of the manager with many years in the same club, they struggle a bit. Sir Alex, Arsene. But it is also a challenge to do the right things.”
He keeps returning to one word: time.
“Whatever happens,” he added, “time” will be key. He pointed to City’s structure, to the fact the club has had just three managers in 17 years since Roberto Mancini, as proof that the hierarchy understands patience and long-term planning.
“I know the organisation quite well and the people inside the club from years ago. I just said before that when a club has three managers in almost 20 years, it shows how serious they are. The structure understands to give time for everything.
The organisation is the main thing. This club and organisation has had three managers in 17 years. That is not normal and has not happened often. I am confident that we can continue to do a great job and continue to do the job that has been done in the last 14, 15 years since Roberto Mancini was here.”
He will need every second of that time. Because next season at the Etihad will be rough, with or without Rodri.
With him, City have a bridge between eras. Without him, Maresca walks a tightrope with no safety net at all.
