How Man City’s Rodri can regain his Ballon d’Or form

It has been a long road back for Rodri. More than 13 months since suffering a knee ligament injury, the Manchester City midfielder’s fitness is still a regular topic at manager Pep Guardiola’s weekly news conferences. He has missed the last four games and when speaking at City’s training ground on Tuesday, Guardiola could not put a timeframe on the Spain international’s return.

“Rodri still is not [available]. He is getting better,” Guardiola said. “He’s training with us. We’ll see. Hopefully soon, but not yet.”

It’s the latest chapter of a stop-start comeback. After damaging his anterior cruciate ligament in the 2-2 draw with Arsenal in September 2024 and subsequently undergoing surgery, Rodri was back training on the grass in February. In April, he returned to full training with the squad, making his return to the team with seven minutes off the bench in a 2-0 win over Bournemouth at the end of May. He was picked in Guardiola’s starting XI for the first time for the FIFA Club World Cup group stage game against Juventus in June and made his first Premier League start against Brighton at the end of August.

There have been setbacks along the way, though. After coming on in the second half of the Club World Cup last-16 tie against Al Hilal, Rodri was substituted during extra time after complaining of discomfort in his knee. He asked to be replaced in the second half of the 1-0 win over Napoli in September, and the next month, he was forced off in the first half of a 1-0 win at Brentford with a hamstring problem.

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As difficult as it has been for City without one of their most influential players, Guardiola has consistently stressed the need to be cautious with the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner. Former Manchester United winger Ben Thornley suffered a knee ligament injury in April 1994 when he was on the verge of breaking into Manchester United‘s first team. It kept him out for more than a year.

“During your rehabilitation, you’re in the gym and you’re completely by yourself,” Thornley told ESPN. “You can hear all the other lads coming into training, and you just know that’s not going to be you for the foreseeable future. Your future is being in the gym by yourself and getting on with your work.”

For many players in Thornley’s situation, the rehabilitation process is a battle — particularly when there’s no concrete end date in sight.

“It’s not just the physical element; it’s the mental element. I was completely by myself for a number of months. At times it was soul-destroying. You’re constantly thinking about the injury and how it happened.”

Colin Lewin treated players at Arsenal for more than 20 years, including 10 years as the club’s head of medical services, and he said recovering from major injuries can often take longer than expected.

“Every injury is different, every player is different, and every rehab process is different,” Lewin told ESPN. “Fans might not understand that the end stage of the rehab is getting back training with your teammates and also the first games … If you look at Rodri, he’s had a couple of flare-ups, and it would still be considered end-stage rehab. That stage of rehab can be tough for players.”

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After long months spent in the medical room, it’s never as simple as stepping back onto the pitch and immediately feeling back to normal.

“Players talk all the time about being in the groove or in their rhythm,” Lewin said. “And that doesn’t come after one or two games. There’s the fitness side of it, the strength side of it. Then there’s the football performance side. It’s an individual thing.

“With ACL injuries, we would tell players that it takes approximately nine months to get back to the pitch — it might be a bit longer — but you might not feel like yourself again for at least a year. That’s a really vague statement, but it rang true quite a lot. You think once you’re back on the pitch, ‘That’s it, I’ve done it.’ But that’s really not the case.”

It has been a frustrating time for City supporters, Guardiola, and Rodri himself. After arriving at the Etihad Stadium from Atletico Madrid, Rodri appeared in 172 of City’s 190 Premier League games between 2019 and 2024. So far this season, he has been limited to 293 minutes in the league — around 36% of City’s total through nine games.

After Rodri started three games in a week against Manchester United, Napoli and Arsenal, Guardiola questioned whether he was capable of managing such an intense workload. City drew against the Gunners, and Rodri missed the next two games against Huddersfield Town and Burnley, then was forced off after an hour during the 2-2 draw with Monaco.

It’s not just a player’s body that needs repairing after a long layoff. Rodri was on the end of a heavy challenge in the second half against Monaco. He required treatment from City staff on the pitch and never seemed to recover his composure before being substituted.

Lewin was working at Arsenal in 2010 when Aaron Ramsey suffered a double fracture of his right leg in a game against Stoke, and said it can take time for players to have the same confidence in their body after big injuries.

“When Aaron was coming back after his nasty leg break, he had apprehension about the first big tackle,” Lewin said. “It was a horrible, nasty injury and it couldn’t not have a psychological impact on him. Every club has psychologists now to help players through things like that, but sometimes you need someone to whack you to prove to yourself that you’re OK.

“There’s apprehension around the first tackle [you go into] — it’s not usually as angry in training as it is in games — and [there’s] the fact that you’ve got millions watching, when they’re not watching training.”

Thornley went through the same thing when he was returning from his injury.

“In the back of your mind, you’re always thinking that any coming together, or collision, or tackle could set you back,” he said. “The operation can go well and the rehabilitation can go well, but there is still a mental block in your mind that only starts to disappear over time … The physical element comes back a lot quicker than the mental element.”

In terms of depth, City are more equipped to deal with Rodri’s absence than they were last season. Nico González, signed in January from FC Porto, is starting to get to grips with the Premier League, and Mateo Kovacic is back after recovering from Achilles surgery. Still, he remains a big miss, and there’s a question whether the 29-year-old can get back to the level that saw him voted the best player in the world in 2024.

For Lewin, it’s a question of time. “After nine or 10 months, a player might be hitting their physical metrics, and with data you can prove that,” he said. “But his decision-making might be off or his confidence might be off. I think people sometimes forget that it’s not just about the numbers. He might be buzzing that he’s back to his physical best, but it doesn’t mean everything else is back.

“You don’t become a bad player in nine months, but sometimes players forget. That’s where training comes in to get it back to being automatic.”

Guardiola, meanwhile, has suggested City might not see the best of their star midfielder until next season. “Rodri has been and is an outstanding player,” Guardiola said earlier this month. Everybody knows it. But I said to Rodri, and maybe he struggled to understand, it’s not about six months or seven months [after the injury]. ‘Ah, [after] eight months I’ll play and be the Rodri of before.’ No.”Rodri will be good at the World Cup with Spain [next summer]. In the World Cup it will be the best Rodri, and next season will be the best Rodri. This season will be how we handle it, step by step.

“It’s normal, it was one year on the massage table. The body changes, the rhythm changes. If he’s healthy and works with what he has to do, he will be back.”

Rodri’s journey back isn’t complete yet.