Manchester City fans received the news they feared on Monday afternoon: Rodri will miss the rest of the 2024/25 season through injury.
The problem came during City’s mammoth, ill-tempered Premier League game with Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, when the midfielder’s knee buckled after colliding with Thomas Partey while attacking a corner.
Rodri received lengthy medical attention on the pitch, with worried teammates looking on, and was eventually taken off by Pep Guardiola when it became clear he could not continue.
Unfortunately, it seems Rodri has torn his ACL – an injury that is likely to determine the Candidate for the Ballon d’Or 2024 out for the rest of the season.
All eyes are now on what Guardiola will do to cover his absence, given Rodri is widely regarded as the best player in the world in his position…
It’s worth remembering that, before this week, Rodri hadn’t actually started a single game for Manchester City this season due to a hamstring injury he picked up in the Euro 2024 final.
In his place, Mateo Kovacic started all four of City’s Premier League games at the start of the 2024/25 season.
The result? Four wins on the bounce and Kovacic was one of the club’s best performers in August. 90 minutes player ratings for the month it shows.
This good form while Rodri was out, albeit a small sample, could be enough to convince Pep Guardiola that Kovacic can fill the void for the rest of the season.
If Guardiola isn’t fully on board the Kovacic train, dive into the train transferredr market in January will be necessary.
The most obvious replacement for Rodri who could be on the market is the man who replaced him at half-time in the Euro 2024 final: Martin Zubimendi.
Zubimendi was fantastic when he replaced the injured Rodri in the final, bringing both the defensive strength – winning 100% of his duels – and the attacking prowess – completing 92% of his passes – that we’re used to seeing from the superstar midfielder of the City. .
Having been heavily linked with a move to Liverpool in the summer, City will probably not be the only club interested in his services in January. But the guarantee of minutes at a club that should challenge on all four fronts this season – despite his loyalty to Real Sociedad – may be hard to turn down.
Rodri’s role at the heart of Pep Guardiola’s 4-1-4-1 tactical setup may be the most demanding in world football.
As the linchpin on which City’s entire defensive and attacking form is built, the quality on and off the ball required of a player in this role is very, a lot hard to find, so the midfielder who plays the role effectively is a Ballon d’Or talent level
And while Kovacic has shown he can do a job there for a short period, and the expectation is that Zubimendi can do the same, things may need to be changed tactically for the rest of the 2024/25 season while Rodri is he was injured
Adding a few extra bodies in midfield by reverting to a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 formation could ease the pressure on City’s midfielders going forward, spreading the burden of replacing the Spanish superstar evenly.
That brings Rico Lewis and John Stones into the conversation – two players you’d imagine could do a pretty decent job if they had a bit more support than Rodri is used to.
