Pep Guardiola reveals Rodri replacement update as '£30m Man City transfer plan emerges'

Evening Standard

·27 settembre 2024

Pep Guardiola reveals Rodri replacement update as '£30m Man City transfer plan emerges'

Premier League champions will be without their influential midfielder for the rest of the season after knee surgery

Pep Guardiola has not ruled out Manchester City potentially moving in the January transfer market to compensate for the injury to Rodri.

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City’s influential Spanish midfielder suffered a serious right knee issue during the first half of last weekend’s dramatic last-gasp draw with Premier League title rivals Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium.

Worst fears that the problem would prove season-ending have been realised, with initial scans indicating an anterior cruciate ligament injury before Rodri later flew to Barcelona for further tests.

Guardiola confirmed on Friday that the 28-year-old would indeed be sidelined for the remainder of the 2024/25 campaign, having now undergone surgery on ACL and meniscus damage.

Irreplaceable: Manchester City will be without Rodri for the remainder of the season due to injury

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"He had surgery this morning - ACL and some meniscus," Guardiola told reporters in a press conference held before Saturday’s lunchtime trip to face Newcastle at St James’ Park in the top-flight. "So, next season he will be here. This season is over [for him].

"Unfortunately we got the worst (news) but these things happen. We will be there to support him in his recovery step-by-step. What he gives us, we don’t have a similar player.

"But the others can all together replace what Rodri has given since his arrival to us. We will have to do it as a team and find a way to play a lot of matches without an important player for us."

Attentions now turn to how City will replace Rodri, with suggestions that they will look to quickly swoop for a new midfielder when the transfer window re-opens for business in January.

The Guardian reported on Friday that the reigning Premier League champions were pondering accelerating plans for next summer and weighing up an early move for Italian international Samuele Ricci, a key figure in Torino’s shock rise to the Serie A summit, with any deal potentially costing as much as £30million.

Guardiola said he has had discussions with director of football Txiki Begiristain, but insists City will not decide on their January transfer intentions until closer to the New Year - giving them time to assess exactly how much their ambitions for the season will be impacted by the loss of a player in Rodri described by the manager earlier this week as “irreplaceable”.

"We will see,” Guardiola said on the subject of signing a replacement for Rodri in January. “We talked today with Txiki, we will see what's going on. We don't have to decide tomorrow, right? We have time to see the potential problems we will have and after we will see."