Rodri Faces Surgery Threat After World Cup Glory

Rodri’s golden summer may yet carry a painful cost.

Days after lifting the World Cup and the Golden Ball in New Jersey, the Manchester City midfielder is facing the prospect of back surgery that could rule him out for the start of the new season and extend a brutal run of injuries.

The 30-year-old was back to his imperious best for Spain, dictating the tempo and dragging his country to a 1-0 win over Argentina in Sunday’s final. On the biggest stage, after two seasons scarred by physical setbacks, he looked like the old Rodri again: authoritative, unflustered, decisive.

Now comes another obstacle.

From World Cup peak to operating table threat

The back problem has been lingering and is serious enough that an operation is under consideration. If surgery is required, City will likely be without their midfield cornerstone for an extended spell just as Enzo Maresca begins his reign at the Etihad.

For Rodri, it would be the latest chapter in a punishing period that began in September 2024. That month, in a 2–2 draw with Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium, he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament. The injury wiped out most of that campaign and altered the rhythm of his career.

He returned in time to feature at the Club World Cup last July, only to suffer another setback there. The following season turned into a stop-start grind: hamstring trouble, then groin issues, each one cutting into his rhythm, each one forcing him back to the treatment room. He managed only 17 Premier League starts, a startlingly low figure for a player who once seemed indestructible.

The World Cup offered a different story. In Qatar’s heat four years earlier he had been excellent; this time, he was transcendent. Spain built their triumph around his brain and his bravery on the ball. The Golden Ball felt like recognition not just of a tournament, but of a fight back from the margins.

Rodri himself did not hide how hard that fight had been. “For me, it’s been a very tough time,” he said after the final. “I just want the new generations to see my example as an opportunity. When you go down, you can rise again. This is my philosophy for my entire life. Of course, sometimes things go well, things go wrong, but always the positiveness.”

Those words now carry even more weight.

City’s dilemma and Madrid’s shadow

The injury cloud arrives at a delicate moment for both player and club. Rodri’s contract runs out next June. Talks over his long-term future have been framed by a simple truth: at some point, he wants to go home.

He has long harboured an ambition to return to Spain and is understood to favour a move to Real Madrid if and when that chance comes. The European champions, though, have not yet made a formal move. Their midfield is stacked, their planning meticulous. Timing matters there as much as talent.

City, for their part, are desperate not to lose the man who has been the heartbeat of their modern era. Maresca, newly installed and already facing the task of evolving a title-winning squad, hopes to keep him. Building a new cycle while your most reliable on-field organiser edges towards the exit is one problem; doing it while he battles another serious injury is quite another.

The back issue only deepens the complexity. Any club considering a major investment will want clarity on his fitness. City must weigh the risk of tying their wage structure to a player who has endured two injury-hit seasons. Rodri, still at the peak of his footballing intelligence, must decide how much more punishment his body can absorb in the Premier League’s relentless churn.

For now, everything hangs on medical opinions and scan results. The surgery call will shape City’s start to the season and could influence one of the biggest midfield decisions in European football.

Rodri has already shown he can rise when everything seems to be falling apart. The question now is whether his body will let him write one more defining chapter in Manchester, or whether the next act of his career will begin back in Spain.