Rodri to Undergo Back Surgery as Maresca Takes Charge at Manchester City

Enzo Maresca’s first significant act as Manchester City manager will be to cope without the heartbeat of the team.

Rodri, fresh from lifting the World Cup with Spain and being named Golden Ball winner as player of the tournament, will undergo surgery on a back problem on Monday, Maresca confirmed at his unveiling.

The timing underlines the physical cost of his recent years. The 30-year-old, now both Spain captain and Ballon d'Or winner, has carried enormous responsibility for club and country, but his last two seasons at City have been badly fractured. An anterior cruciate ligament injury wiped out most of his 2024-25 campaign, and a string of setbacks last season meant he was in and out of the side when City needed him most.

At the World Cup, he looked reborn. Dictating games, setting the tempo, dominating midfields again. Any doubts about his level after those injuries vanished as he drove Spain to the title.

Now comes another pause.

“Now, [he has] surgery on Monday. Then he needs a holiday, he needs to rest and recover and then he will be back with us,” Maresca said, outlining a simple but significant plan: fix, rest, rebuild.

He offered no timeline. No return date, no target match. Just the clear message that City will be patient with a player who has become central to everything they do.

What Maresca did move quickly to shut down was the noise around Rodri’s future. Reports in the past week have linked the midfielder with a move to Real Madrid, speculation that tends to swirl around any elite player who shines on the biggest stage.

“Around big players there are always speculations so I am not worried about that,” the Italian insisted. He framed the rumours as a natural consequence of Rodri’s status rather than a sign of any unrest.

“I think it is normal, also because they [Spain] won the World Cup and because he is one of the best players. I think every manager wants to have Rodri because he is a top player.”

That last line is the crux of City’s dilemma. Every manager wants Rodri. Maresca has him, but not yet at his disposal.

For a new coach trying to stamp his ideas on a squad accustomed to winning, losing the team’s on-field metronome, even temporarily, is no small complication. City have built much of their recent dominance on Rodri’s ability to screen the defence, recycle possession and control the rhythm of games almost single-handedly.

Now Maresca must plot the opening chapter of his tenure without that safety net, knowing that when Rodri does return, he will be coming back as something even bigger than before: World Cup-winning captain, Ballon d'Or holder, and still the man expected to anchor City’s next era.