Rodri to Undergo Back Surgery as Maresca Begins Manchester City Tenure
Enzo Maresca’s first significant act as Manchester City manager will be to do without his most important midfielder.
Fresh from lifting the World Cup with Spain and collecting the Golden Ball as the tournament’s standout player, Rodri now faces surgery on a back problem on Monday, Maresca confirmed at his unveiling.
The contrast could hardly be sharper. One week, the 30-year-old is at the peak of the international game, dictating a World Cup final and adding a Ballon d'Or to his collection. The next, he is back in the treatment room, planning another spell of rehabilitation.
World champion, but bruised
Rodri’s brilliance on the global stage masked the grind of his last two club seasons. An anterior cruciate ligament injury wrecked almost all of his 2024-25 campaign, and a series of setbacks last season meant Manchester City were repeatedly forced to cope without their midfield metronome.
At the World Cup, he looked reborn. Sharp, authoritative, relentless in and out of possession. The version of Rodri City had built their recent dominance around.
Yet Maresca, speaking for the first time since replacing Pep Guardiola, made it clear the price of that level of performance is now being paid.
“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 detailed prognosis. Just the acceptance that City’s most reliable on‑field reference point will be missing again for a period that the club are not yet willing to define.
No doubt over his future
If the surgery invites questions about Rodri’s physical durability, Maresca moved quickly to close down any doubts about his future at the Etihad.
Reports in the past week have linked the Spain captain with a move to Real Madrid, the kind of speculation that inevitably swirls around a player who has just led his country to the biggest prize in the game.
Maresca brushed it aside.
“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.”
That last line matters. For all the tactical tweaks Maresca will bring, his City is still imagined with Rodri at its core. The plan is not to replace him. The plan is to wait for him.
City’s early test
The surgery throws an early challenge at the new manager. City’s structure, their rhythm, even their temperament have long run through Rodri. When he is missing, everything looks a little less certain.
Maresca, though, inherits a squad built to compete on multiple fronts and used to absorbing blows. The message from the new man was simple: Rodri will rest, recover and return.
When he does, he will walk back into a team that still expects to win everything. The question is how well City can hold the line while their World Cup-winning anchor heals again.
