It is all but certain that Rodri returns to top level football form once he clears all medical hurdles and lines up on the pitch for the 2025-2026 season after his 2024-2025 season ended sadly with his severe ACL injury confirmed.
The Spaniard’s style is heavily based on playing the game from above the shoulders and being less dependent on athleticism and speed; this means that the former Atletico Madrid man is most likely to come back fine.
With the advancement in technology and sports science, Rodri’s return to the pitch is a near foregone conclusion but practically the only worry about Rodri’s injury situation has to do with the speed it takes for him to return to supreme form.
A quick return to his pre ACL injury supreme form looks very difficult to accomplish because Rodri is the odds-on favourite to win the Ballon D’Or should Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr. miss out on winning the prestigious award.
Rodri’s injury has far reaching consequences beyond shaping the title race in the English Premier League since the future of Newcastle United’s captain Bruno Guimaraes is also one to look out for as City see him as a replacement.
Guimaraes is one of if not the most underrated player in the EPL and his play is key in the Magpies ambition to return to the UEFA Champions League and compete with Europe’s best just as the club’s Saudi owners want it.
Kalvin Phillips would have been the perfect replacement for Rodri but his season long loan deal at Ipswich Town was, in hindsight, mistimed and Matheus Nunes’ significant lack of game time and impact is a big worry for Pep Guardiola.
Throwing Mateo Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan into the mix, all three players are very quality midfielders but their varied profiles mean that they operate best playing alongside Rodri and not in his stead. There was significant interest reportedly by Man City for Guimaraes in the transfer window but with the window closed, a possible signing can’t be done until January 2025.
January 2025 is too far away for Man City to figure out how to plug such a huge hole in their game plan especially when this situation gives Arsenal more than enough ammo to capitalize on City’s “weakness”.
Man City have consistently dropped points when Rodri has missed games and putting this in proper context, Man City have lost just a game in 2024 with Rodri featuring in it and that was in the FA Cup loss to Manchester United.
Guimaraes definitely won’t come cheap and his importance to Newcastle means Eddie Howe’s team will drag a potential deal out as long as possible further disrupting a chaotic season. A very good back up option is Real Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi who fits the Rodri perfectly in Guardiola’s system and won’t cost as much as Guimaraes or be at the epicenter of a major transfer raucous given Guardiola’s pull particularly on Spanish players.
Just like Guimaraes, a potential deal for Zubimendi would have to wait till January but a very viable stop gap measure to take would be to look inwardly and call on a defender to literally step up. John Stones is needed now more than ever to step up from his hybrid role of a defender/defensive midfielder, ditch the hybrid tag and fully embrace the defensive midfield duties expected of him now.
Prior to Rodri’s injury, Stones was required to step out of defense into midfield and play alongside the latter at the base of Man City’s midfield.
This move was a key component in Man City’s historic treble winning season and a successful EPL title defence that etched City into the history books as the only team to win four straight EPL titles.
Rodri led the way in midfield with Stones deputizing in the role whenever the Spaniard moved up field to score crucial goals like the winning goal in the Champions League final against Inter Milan and one of the goals in Man City’s win over West Ham to clinch the record setting fourth EPL title win.
After playing this role for two straight seasons, the time is right for Stones to show off all the experience he has gathered playing next to Rodri since he is expected to lead the way from the midfield base playing with either Gundogan or Kovacic or Matheus Nunes.
With his talent and experience playing in Guardiola’s system and midfield role, the only possible hitch to Stones’ deployment in this role is his disturbing injury record.
Stones’ injury issues have had him miss games and City largely struggled to get either Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake or Josko Gvardiol to replicate Stones’ production in this role.
As such, City looked beatable for the first time since Guardiola’s first season in charge of the club though City managed to do just enough to pip Arsenal to the EPL title.
By stepping off the bench to score the late equalizer against Arsenal to salvage a 2-2 draw, Stones has made a very promising start in his new role; interestingly, that pulsating game was headlined by Rodri’s injury.
More of that is expected of Stones from this point till January where City’s fleet of shrewd transfer dealings have placed the club in pole position to splash some serious cash on Guimaraes or go a bit conservative for Zubimendi.
It’s not just about how teams win but how they play and in the modern game obsessed with practically everything Pep Guardiola does, it is clear he is the GOAT of coaches beyond all the titles he has won in his career from the sidelines.
Despite being a genius, Rodri’s injury might just be the toughest question yet for Guardiola and the solution lies at John Stones’ feet.
