Rodri Undergoes Back Surgery as City Prepare for Season
Manchester City will begin the Enzo Maresca era without one of their most influential figures, with Rodri undergoing back surgery and ruled out for what the club call a “short period of rehabilitation”.
Maresca revealed on Friday that the midfielder was due to go under the knife on Monday, stressing the need for a complete reset after a gruelling, injury-ravaged spell.
“He needs a holiday, he needs to rest and recover and then he will be back with us,” the City manager said, underlining that the priority is to restore a player who has carried a heavy physical and mental load for club and country.
There is, pointedly, no firm date for his return.
City confirmed that Rodri had “been feeling discomfort for some time but has now undergone a procedure to address the issue”. The wording tells its own story: this is not a sudden problem, but one he has been managing in the background, pushing through while his body protested.
The timing is awkward. City face Arsenal in the Community Shield on 16 August, a curtain-raiser that usually offers a first glimpse of rhythm and intent. A week later, they open their Premier League campaign against Bournemouth on 23 August. Maresca’s first competitive steps in English football’s top flight may come without the player who so often knits City’s entire structure together.
Rodri’s situation is complicated by the context around him. He has only a year left on his contract and has been heavily linked with Real Madrid, the speculation intensifying after he guided Spain to World Cup glory this month and collected the player of the tournament award. His stock has never been higher. His body, though, has rarely been under more scrutiny.
The last two seasons have taken a visible toll. Injuries have repeatedly broken his rhythm, and he missed most of City’s 2024-25 campaign with a torn anterior cruciate ligament. For a footballer whose game relies on timing, positioning and constant availability, those absences have felt jarring.
Now comes another enforced pause, another rehabilitation schedule, another stretch of watching from the stands while the conversation about his future refuses to quieten.
While Rodri steps away, City have moved decisively elsewhere in the squad. As reported by BBC Sport in June, defender Josko Gvardiol has signed a new five-year contract, tying him to the club until the summer of 2031.
That deal is a statement. At 24, the Croatia international already feels embedded in the fabric of this team. Since arriving from RB Leipzig in August 2023, he has made 122 appearances and lifted six trophies, including the Premier League in his debut season. Those are not the numbers of a peripheral figure; they belong to a cornerstone.
Gvardiol’s extension anchors the back line for the long term at the very moment uncertainty swirls around the midfield. One pillar secured, another temporarily removed.
Maresca must now navigate pre-season and the opening weeks without his midfield metronome, while the club’s hierarchy weigh up how to handle a player entering the final year of his deal and attracting attention from Madrid. Does this surgery mark a brief pause before a renewed push in sky blue, or the start of a final chapter at the Etihad?
