Rodri to miss remainder of Manchester City’s season with anterior cruciate ligament tear

Manchester City’s worst fears have seemingly been confirmed after tests on Monday revealed that defensive midfield mainstay Rodri has sustained a serious knee injury.

The Spanish international was withdrawn after just 21 minutes in Manchester City’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, having seemingly disrupted his knee in a relatively non-contact situation at a corner kick.

Amid pressure from Thomas Partey on a Manchester City attacking corner, Rodri went down in severe discomfort and was brought close to tears by the injury, despite leaving the pitch on his own feet with a stretcher present at the time.

Replaced by Mateo Kovacic for the remainder of the contest, Manchester City may now have to turn to the Croatian midfielder for the rest of the season as their mainstay defensive midfielder, with new reports detailing the severity of the injury sustained by Rodri.

According to the information of ESPN’s Moisés Llorens, Manchester City’s star defensive midfielder will miss the remainder of the 2024/25 season, after tests on Monday morning confirmed an anterior cruciate ligament tear in his right knee.

The source quoted by ESPN’s report on Monday afternoon has detailed that the Spain international is set for more tests on the injury, but ‘everything points towards’ an ACL injury, with the player ‘likely’ to undergo surgery in Barcelona.

Additional reporting from The Athletic’s David Ornstein and Pol Ballus has also stated that Rodri is set to be ruled out for a ‘significant period of time’ after suffering a ‘serious knee injury’, with fears that he may not return this season.

The significant injury sustained by Rodri comes off the back of the player commenting that football stars are close to going on strike over the growing demands placed on them in terms of fixture scheduling and the increasing calendar.

The Spanish international played a total of 4,327 minutes of action across 50 games for Manchester City alone last season, and Pep Guardiola faces a significant challenge when it comes to replacing his profile in the starting line-up for a large part of the campaign.

Manchester City take on Watford in their next fixture, with the Carabao Cup third round tie between the two sides scheduled for Tuesday night – just 49 hours after the club completed their clash against Arsenal on Sunday.