Manchester City had to do without Rodri for months before he made his comeback in the final stages of the season. However, as Pep Guardiola has now explained, the Ballon d’Or winner recently suffered a setback.
After Pep Guardiola substituted his midfield dynamo Rodri in the Club World Cup round of 16 against Al-Hilal (3-4) at the beginning of July due to groin problems, Spanish media reported that it was not a serious injury. Around a month later, Man City’s head coach has now refuted these statements and delivered some bad news.
“Rodri is doing better, but he was seriously injured in the last game against Al-Hilal. He has been training better in the last few days, so hopefully he will be fully fit after the international break,” the Manchester Evening News quotes Guardiola as saying, referring to the international break from September 1 to 9. If this is the case, Rodri would miss the first three league games against Wolverhampton (A), Tottenham (H), and Brighton (A).
Three City pros on the sidelines
However, the 54-year-old is hopeful that the reigning Ballon d’Or winner will at least be able to “play a few minutes” in the first three games. Rodri’s health is the top priority, though: “The important thing is that he’s not in pain, because we don’t want him to come back injured. We are desperately trying to avoid that,“ said Guardiola about the right-footed player, who completed ”the last two training sessions” with the team.
The 29-year-old will definitely not be available for the dress rehearsal at FC Palermo on Saturday evening, as he did not even make the trip to the Sicilian capital. It’s a fate shared by the injured Josko Gvardiol and Phil Foden, as well as James McAtee, Jack Grealish, and Stefan Ortega Moreno. While the first two are expected to return at the start of the season, the latter three are likely to leave in the summer.
