Rodri was about Man City's success or failure last season. It was too clear, when Pep Guardiola's team closed the season 2024/25. The club cannot let himself continue to live in an anxious scene with the injury of the 2024 Golden Ball.
In the last season, Man City was playing well when suddenly Rodri had a broken ligament. Because of this event, from a team that is considered to be the champion candidate on all fronts, they decline without braking, and then end the empty season. In an interview right after closing the 2024/25 season, Pep Guardiola exclaimed: “If not Man City, but in another team, maybe I was fired for a long time.” Obviously, the Spanish coach is aware of what his disappointment is like.
At the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, Rodri re -exported. He played in all 4 matches of Man City including 1 main kick and 3 matches from the bench. In total, the Spanish player played 172 minutes. Unfortunately, in the match in the 1/8 round against Al Hilal, after coming on the bench in the second half, Rodri was injured and was forced to leave the field in extra time.
In an interview after the home team was eliminated from Al Hilal from the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, coach Pep Guardiola shared about Rodri's condition: “He signaled that he could not continue to play. Therefore, I was forced to replace him. After that, he told us that he had pain and discomfort at his leg.” It is unknown how serious of this injury, but Man City needs to make a new plan because of the incident of Rodri.
The role of Rodri in Man City's play is so important. But it was not so that the Manchester team always had to live in the scene with him next season. Not to mention, after recovering from the injury and re -export of the pitch, it is unlikely that the owner of the 2024 Golden Ball title was able to plow like he had never been seriously injured. Therefore, a “plan B” for Rodri is what Pep Guardiola must do.
In fact, Pep Guardiola is also aware of the problem in the central midfielder of Rodri. Anyway, the Spanish star is 29 years old. Perhaps it was the right time for him to consider gradually reducing influence, proceeding to replace Rodri. That is why Pep has insisted that Man City's leadership sought to buy him a central midfielder in the summer transfer window this year.
As is known, Man City has contacted quite a lot of midfielders in the past few months. And finally, Pep Guardiola also found the player who could carry the responsibility in the middle line of the home team to replace the owner of the 2024 Golden Ball title. It was midfielder Tijjani Reijders – the star they bought from Milan for a transfer fee of 55 million euros. This is a player who is considered to have many similarities with Rodri.
In short, regardless of whether Rodri can recover from injury and find out the form or not, the preparation of “plan B” for the Spanish star is essential. Pep Guardiola is almost beating to build Man City, so he also needs new factors to create a breakthrough. The Manchester team may not stop at Tijjani Reijnders. It does not exclude the possibility that they will continue to find Etihad at least one more central midfielder before the summer transfer market in 2025 closed.
