Rodri Faces Surgery After World Cup Triumph

Rodri’s summer was supposed to end with a coronation, not a countdown to surgery.

Days after lifting the World Cup and the Golden Ball in New Jersey, the Manchester City midfielder now faces the prospect of an extended spell on the sidelines with a back injury that could require an operation and keep him out at the start of the new season.

For City and for Spain’s newly crowned captain, the timing could hardly be crueller.

From Golden Ball to operating table?

At 30, Rodri had just reminded the world why many regard him as the game’s most complete midfielder. He anchored Spain’s run through the tournament, then led them to a 1-0 win over Argentina in Sunday’s final, a performance that capped his resurgence after two years scarred by setbacks.

The Golden Ball in his hands looked like the closing chapter of a long recovery arc. Instead, it may turn out to be the midpoint.

The back problem has been lingering and is now serious enough that surgery is on the table. If he goes under the knife, he will miss the opening stretch of City’s season, depriving Enzo Maresca of his most reliable on-field organiser just as the new manager tries to stamp his identity on the side.

A body pushed to the limit

This is not an isolated issue. It is the latest blow in a punishing sequence that began in September 2024, when Rodri ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in a 2–2 draw with Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium. That injury wiped out most of his campaign and forced City to recalibrate a midfield built around his presence.

He returned, only to be struck down again at the Club World Cup last July. Hamstring and groin problems followed across last season. The cumulative effect was brutal: he started just 17 Premier League matches, a startling figure for a player once viewed as virtually indestructible.

Every time he seemed ready to settle back into rhythm, another muscle tightened, another scan brought bad news. The World Cup offered a rare stretch of continuity, and he seized it, dictating games with the familiar authority that had once made him City’s metronome.

City’s dilemma and Madrid’s shadow

Now City must plan for another period without him, and the uncertainty stretches beyond his fitness.

Rodri’s contract runs out next June. His future at the Etihad has never felt more fragile. He has long spoken of a desire to return to Spain one day, and Real Madrid are understood to be his preferred destination. Yet, for all the speculation, Madrid have not made a concrete move.

That leaves Maresca in a delicate position. The new City manager wants to keep him, to build his first great side around a player who understands the demands of controlling games at the highest level. But he is inheriting a midfielder whose body has been through two punishing seasons, and whose eyes may eventually turn back towards La Liga.

The injury complicates everything: contract talks, transfer calculations, tactical planning. How hard do City push to extend a deal for a player who might miss another significant chunk of the season? How long do Madrid wait before deciding whether to pounce?

“When you go down, you can rise again”

Rodri himself framed his journey in stark, personal terms after Spain’s triumph.

“For me, it’s been a very tough time,” he said, reflecting on the injuries that had stalked his last two years. “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 land differently now. What sounded like the epilogue to his struggles suddenly reads like a manifesto for what comes next.

He has already climbed back from a torn ACL, from a stop-start season of hamstring and groin strains, from doubts over whether he could regain his old dominance. The World Cup showed he still can. The question is how many more times his body will let him roll the dice.

City, Spain, and perhaps Real Madrid will all watch closely over the coming weeks as medical opinions are weighed and a decision on surgery is made. Rodri has built a career on control — of tempo, of space, of entire matches.

For once, the next move is out of his hands.