Manchester City left waiting for final ‘phone calls’ from medical staff over Rodri knee injury, reveals Pep Guardiola | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has revealed that Manchester City are awaiting the final ‘phone calls’ from medical professionals assessing the severity of Rodri’s knee injury.

Having suffered a ligament injury to his right knee during Sunday afternoon’s 2-2 draw against Arsenal, Manchester City have since confirmed that the midfielder has travelled to Spain to seek specialist consultation following initial tests in Manchester.

With ongoing uncertainty over how long Rodri will be ruled out of action for, the club have also confirmed that assessment remains ongoing to ascertain the full extent of the problem and expected prognosis.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola confirmed the unknowns surrounding the problem, despite initial reporting from various quarters suggesting that the Spaniard could miss the remainder of the season as a result of the injury.

Speaking after City’s 2-1 win over Watford in the Carabao Cup third round on Tuesday night, Guardiola was first asked on whether he has any developments concerning the injury sustained by Rodri at the weekend.

“Still we don’t have the definitive [answer],” Guardiola admitted. “He will be out for a long time, a while. But there is some opinions that maybe it will be less than we expect. But unfortunately he was injured.”

The City manager continued, “Right now still I cannot tell you because we are waiting for the last phone calls from him and the doctors to know exactly what definitely he has and the type of surgery that he has to get.

“We expect (to find out) tomorrow, I think tonight or tomorrow we’ll know exactly. I think the club will inform perfectly.”

Pep Guardiola and his coaching staff will now have the task of sourcing suitable replacements for Rodri within their existing cohort of players, and the wider expectation is that Mateo Kovacic will become the club’s new first-choice holding midfielder during the absence.

In terms of back-up solutions, Manchester City may also revert to using a double-pivot in the holding midfield role for some matches, with Rico Lewis, John Stones, Nico O’Reilly, and Ilkay Gundogan all having played in the position previously.

Manchester City return to action in the Premier League for the first time since Rodri’s injury with a trip to face Newcastle United on Saturday afternoon, travelling to St James’ Park for the lunchtime kick-off slot.