Serious knee injury set to sideline Rodri for the remainder of the season

Initial tests conducted on the Spain and Manchester City midfielder are far from positive as it appears that the 28-year-old has torn his cruciate ligament after a fortuitous collision with Arsenal’s Thomas Partey at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

The incident occurred shortly after the 20th minute of the Premier League clash with the Spanish midfielder being replaced by Croatian Mateo Kovacic.

Rodri will now return to Spain for further tests but everything points to the City player being sidelined for the remainder of the 2024-25 season.

The incident comes just days after the Madrid native voiced his concern about the number of game elite players will be subjected to this season with an expanded UEFA Champions League and the introduction of a new 32 team FIFA Club World Cup which is set to be staged in June-July 2025 with many City stars expected to play between 70-80 matches this season.

“It is a widespread opinion among the players, and if everything continues like this we will have no other option but to strike,” he declared at the press conference prior to the European debut against Inter Milan. Last season alone, Rodri played more than 3,000 minutes across 50 matches for Manchester City, in addition to the six matches he played with the Spanish national team at Euro 2024 in Germany last summer.

Irrespective of the precise amount of time Rodri will be out of action, his absence will be a significant blow for Manchester City with the player also highly tipped to scoop the 2024 Men’s Player of the Year award at the ceremony next months in Paris.