Rodri to Undergo Surgery as Manchester City Starts New Era
Enzo Maresca’s first significant act as Manchester City manager is not a signing, a tactical declaration or a bold prediction. It is confirmation that the heartbeat of this City side, World Cup winner Rodri, is heading for the operating table.
The Spain captain, fresh from lifting the World Cup and claiming the Golden Ball as the tournament’s outstanding player, will undergo surgery on a back issue on Monday. From the highest peak of the international game, straight into a hospital ward. Football’s brutal calendar rarely pauses to admire its heroes.
Maresca, speaking at his first news conference since taking charge at Etihad Stadium, laid out the immediate plan with a calm that belied the significance of the news.
“Now, [he has] surgery on Monday. Then he needs a holiday, he needs to rest and recover and then he will be back with us,” the Italian said.
No timeline. No return date. Just the clear admission that City’s midfield anchor faces another spell of recuperation.
A Star Rebuilt, Then Stopped Again
Rodri’s World Cup brilliance arrived against the backdrop of two fractured club seasons. The 30-year-old’s last two campaigns with City have been anything but straightforward. An anterior cruciate ligament injury wrecked the majority of his 2024-25 season, leaving a gaping hole in the centre of City’s structure. When he did return, a series of setbacks last season meant he was in and out of the side, never able to build the relentless rhythm that once defined him.
In Qatar, though, the old Rodri reappeared. Dictating games, shielding his defence, scoring when it mattered, he looked once more like the complete midfielder who had driven City to the top of Europe and earned the Ballon d'Or. Spain built their World Cup triumph on his authority. The Golden Ball only underlined what everyone watching already knew: he was back to his best.
And now, another interruption.
For Maresca, who steps into one of the most demanding jobs in world football, the news is both a challenge and a test of his early man-management. This is not just any player going under the knife. This is the man around whom City’s entire structure has so often been built.
Maresca Brushes Off Madrid Talk
As soon as Rodri’s World Cup ended in glory, the speculation began. A Spanish captain, a Ballon d'Or winner, a midfield general at the peak of his powers: Real Madrid’s name was always going to surface.
Reports in the past week have linked him with a move to the Bernabéu. Maresca, though, cut through the noise with a short, sharp dismissal of the idea that City are bracing for a fight to keep him.
“Around big players there are always speculations so I am not worried about that,” he said. “I think it is normal, also because they [Spain] won the World Cup and because he is one of the best players. I think every manager wants to have Rodri because he is a top player.”
There was no hint of concern in his words, no suggestion of an underlying issue between club and player. For Maresca, the only battle right now is with Rodri’s fitness, not his future.
City’s Puzzle Without Their Pivot
City have survived without Rodri before, but they have never looked quite the same. His absence strips them of control, composure and a natural reference point in possession. When he plays, teammates orbit around him; when he doesn’t, the pitch feels a little bigger, the spaces a little more dangerous.
Maresca now has to plan the start of his reign knowing that his most reliable organiser in midfield is out of the picture for an unspecified period. The Italian’s philosophy, honed in previous roles, leans heavily on structure and control from deep. Few players in world football fit that blueprint better than Rodri.
He will return, Maresca insists. He will rest, recover and rejoin. The club’s medical staff will map out every step of that journey. But City, as always, must keep moving.
A new manager, a reshaped squad, a global star heading into surgery. The question now is simple and sharp: when Rodri finally walks back into that dressing room, what kind of City will he be returning to?
