Rodri Faces Setback After World Cup Glory
Rodri’s World Cup summer was supposed to be the start of his rebirth. It may instead be followed by another brutal pause.
The Manchester City midfielder, freshly crowned the best player on the planet’s biggest stage, is facing the prospect of an extended spell on the sidelines with a back injury that could require surgery and is expected to keep him out at the start of the new season.
Only days ago, he was lifting the World Cup as Spain’s captain after a 1-0 win over Argentina in New Jersey, then walking away with the Golden Ball as the tournament’s outstanding performer. At 30, after two seasons scarred by setbacks, he looked like the old Rodri again: authoritative, relentless, dictating games on his terms.
Now comes another fight with his own body.
This latest problem is the continuation of a grim sequence. It all began with the rupture of his anterior cruciate ligament in a 2-2 draw with Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium in September 2024, an injury that wiped out most of that campaign. When he finally clawed his way back, the Club World Cup brought more misfortune last July, as another injury stalled his rhythm just when he needed continuity.
Last season never truly belonged to him either. Hamstring and groin issues repeatedly dragged him off the pitch, limiting him to only 17 Premier League starts. For a player who once felt indestructible at the heart of City’s midfield, the stop-start nature of his career has become a harsh new reality.
The timing of this back injury could hardly be more delicate. Rodri’s contract at City runs out next June, and his future is wide open. He has long spoken of a desire to return to Spain at some point, and Real Madrid are understood to be his preferred destination. Yet the European champions have not moved decisively for him, leaving his next step hanging in the air.
Inside the Etihad, Enzo Maresca has walked into a club where one of the first major questions on his desk concerns the fitness and future of his most influential midfielder. The new City manager wants to keep him, to build around the intelligence and control that once made Rodri the metronome of Pep Guardiola’s great side. Instead, Maresca may begin his tenure without him, forced to improvise in the most delicate area of the pitch.
Rodri himself laid bare the emotional cost of this journey after Spain’s World Cup triumph. “For me, it’s been a very tough time,” he said, speaking with the medal still fresh around his neck. He framed his story as something larger than a comeback for one player, as a lesson for those watching him grow and fall and rise again.
“I just want the new generations to see my example as an opportunity. When you go down, you can rise again. This is my philosophy for my entire life. Of course, sometimes things go well, things go wrong, but always the positiveness.”
Those words land differently now. The Golden Ball sits as proof of what he still is when his body allows it. The looming operation, and another spell in the treatment room, underline the fragility of it all.
City must now plan for a season that could begin without the man who once made them feel untouchable. Spain, having just watched him drag them to a world title, will monitor every medical bulletin. Real Madrid, watching from a distance, know that any move for Rodri now comes with both risk and the tantalising possibility of securing one of the game’s great midfielders at a crossroads.
For Rodri, the story turns again: from the summit of world football back into the uncertainty of rehab rooms and recovery schedules. The question is no longer whether he can still reach his peak.
It’s how many more times his body will let him climb back there.
