Rodri Faces Injury Setback Ahead of New Season

Rodri faces the prospect of starting the new season not on the pitch, but in the treatment room – and possibly in surgery.

The Manchester City midfielder, fresh from the pinnacle of his international career after winning the World Cup and the Golden Ball with Spain, is dealing with a back injury serious enough that an operation is under consideration. The issue is expected to keep him out for the beginning of the club campaign and threatens to turn a triumphant summer into another painful chapter in a brutal two-year battle with his body.

Only days ago, Rodri stood in New Jersey as the defining figure of Spain’s 1-0 win over Argentina, the heartbeat and captain of a side that climbed back to the summit of world football. At 30, after two seasons scarred by setbacks, he had looked reborn on the biggest stage. Now he may be sidelined again, just as he seemed ready to reassert his dominance in the Premier League.

This latest problem arrives at the end of a long and punishing sequence. The spiral began with a devastating 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 the bulk of that season. When he finally fought his way back, the relief did not last. He picked up another injury at the Club World Cup last July, then endured hamstring and groin issues across the following campaign.

The numbers tell their own story. A player once regarded as virtually indestructible and ever-present managed only 17 Premier League starts last season. For a side built around his control and authority in midfield, that absence was as tactical as it was physical.

Now comes the back. The timing could hardly be more delicate.

Rodri’s contract runs out next June, and his future at Manchester City hangs in the balance. He has long harboured a desire to return to Spain at some stage in his career and is understood to favour a move to Real Madrid if the opportunity arises. Yet the European champions have not advanced beyond admiration. There has been no concrete move, no formal bid, only speculation circling a player whose value remains sky-high when fit.

Inside City, the stance is clear. New manager Enzo Maresca wants him to stay and to build his midfield around the Spaniard’s intelligence and rhythm. Losing Rodri, especially on a free transfer next summer, would rip out a key structural piece from a team already adapting to a change in the dugout. Losing him to injury at the start of the season only sharpens that anxiety.

For Rodri, this is not just about contracts or transfer plans. It is about identity. After lifting the World Cup, he spoke candidly about the strain of the past two years, about the emotional weight of constant rehabilitation and the grind of starting again.

“For me, it’s been a very tough time,” he said. “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 now feel less like a victory speech and more like a manifesto for what comes next. Another operation would mean another reset. Another fight back to fitness. Another test of whether one of the game’s most influential midfielders can bend his career back on course before contract politics and physical limits close in.

Spain have already seen what a fully firing Rodri can deliver on the world stage. Manchester City, and perhaps Real Madrid watching from a distance, must now wait to discover whether his body will let him do it week after week again – or whether this golden summer proves to be a glorious, painful high point in a career still searching for a clear path forward.