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Manchester City's star midfielder is enduring a stop-start campaign as he seeks to find form and fitness
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is confident the Blues will see the best of Rodri in the second half of this campaign.
The midfielder will miss the Premier League showdown with Liverpool this weekend with City not willing to risk the 29-year-old's fitness when there is an international break on the horizon.
At his best, Rodri will make City or any other team in the world stronger, but the longer the fitness issues persist the more the long-term questions will linger over a player who is out of contract at the Etihad in the summer of 2027.
The Spain international won the Ballon d'or only a year ago and is not 30 until next summer. So what next for Rodri and City? We ask our City experts for their verdict.
Simon Bajkowski
There was definitely a change in mood on Rodri around his injury at Brentford. Having pulled up in the 20th minute, he was upbeat afterwards speaking to reporters - even suggesting he wouldn't miss a game - and rubbishing the idea that this latest problem was still linked to the more serious issue he suffered last season.
Around the club though, the feeling was that the stop-start nature of his returns didn't seem to be helping anyone and more care had to be taken. That looked to have paid off when he sat out three games and then came off the bench for a few minutes of the win against Bournemouth, yet now he is out again.
Guardiola continues to think it will be the back end of the season before Rodri is near his best, and it feels like that has been a difficult belief for many to accept. You can imagine Rodri's frustration: having seen one season wrecked by injury, he doesn't want to miss most of this one as well.
But the Blues have to come up with a plan that has the best chance of avoiding further setbacks, and if that means keeping him in Manchester for the next international break and sharpening everything up - or even waiting longer - then so be it.
As for contract talks, there are shades of De Bruyne last season when he shelved talks until he was back to his best and never got back there - but City have the benefit of Rodri having an extra year left. It isn't an ideal situation to be in, but such is life after an ACL.
Tyrone Marshall
It's getting increasingly difficult to see a fit and firing Rodri bestriding the midfield for City on a regular basis this side of Christmas. He just can't stay fit at the moment and it's not like he's experiencing a setback and then returning, it seems to be a game-by-game basis as to whether he feels good or not.
Perhaps Guardiola will be right and the 29-year-old will only begin to find top form again towards the end of the season or after next summer, but that would present City with a problem around his contract. It is up at the end of next season and right now they would be crazy to seek an extension.
If he then starts next season like the player who won the Ballon d'Or in 2024 you can guarantee Real Madrid's nostrils will be twitching. They love a free transfer and bringing a Spanish midfielder back to the capital would be perfect for them.
That is all hypothetical at the moment. First he needs to make sure he gets back to those levels. He will at least get the patience to do so at City, partly because his stand-in is now doing such a good job.
Nico Gonzalez now looks like the mini-Rodri that Guardiola declared him to be back in February and it means the fretting over the fitness of the more experienced man isn't quite as regular.
Andy Dunn
There is always the odd footballer who earns the right to decide his own fate at a club … and Rodri is one of them.
Yes, elite football is a ruthless business. Yes, sentiment and loyalty are in short supply when it comes to personnel whose value - on and off the pitch - might have dipped.
But for what he did in five remarkable seasons, for his Ballon d’Or, Rodri deserves to be indulged.
More importantly, the City management know they can trust him to make the right decisions for both himself and the club.
Why? Because two of the most pertinent words that can be used to describe Rodri’s contribution to the club since arriving in 2019 are ‘honest’ and ‘selfless’.
Only Rodri will really know if his body can enable him to recapture the consistent excellence of those five seasons. Only Rodri will really know if it is realistic to believe he will be able to perform at his commanding best when he is 33 or 34.
Considering the interruptions in his comebacks, he and everyone at City will have to be patient. But if Rodri is convinced he can be a driving force at the club beyond 2027, there should be a new contract waiting for him to sign.
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