Spain And Man City Star Rodri To Have Back Surgery After Winning World Cup, Golden Ball

Manchester City midfielder Rodri will undergo back surgery next week, coach Enzo Maresca confirmed Friday. Rodri, who sustained an ACL damage in 2024 endured an injury disrupted campaign last season before winning the World Cup with Spain. Maresca did not say how long it would take for him to recover from his latest setback, but confirmed he wanted the former Ballon d’Or winner to stay at the club amid speculation about his future. «Around a big player, there are always speculation so I’m not worried about that. I think it’s normal also because they won the World Cup. He was one of the best players and I think every manager wants to have Rodri because he’s a top player,» Maresca said. «But now (he has) surgery on, I think Monday, and he needs holiday. He needs to rest, he needs to recover and then he will be back here with us.» Maresca was speaking at his unveiling as City coach after iconic former manager Pep Guardiola stepped down at the end of last season. The Italian, who has previously part of Guardiola’s coaching staff, said he felt like he was back home after spells at Leicester and Chelsea and embraced the challenge of following in the steps of one of the greatest managers of all time. In an unprecedented period of success Guardiola won 17 major trophies at City, including six Premier League titles and a first Champions League crown in 2023. He has won 35 major titles across his coaching career including at Barcelona and Bayern Munich. «First of all I want to say that it’s a privilege because the reason why the club decided to go for me, that means that for me it’s a privilege,» he said. «I said many times that I consider Pep probably the best coach in the world in the last 20-25 years, but again, it’s a challenge. It’s nice. It’s a privilege.» The 46-year-old Maresca is in his third stint at City, where he was academy coach in the 2020-21 season and then Guardiola’s assistant in 2022-23 — the year the team won the Premier League-Champions League-FA Cup treble. «Probably the reason why the club decide for me is because they can see some similar concept with the previous manager and we always try to be aggressive on the ball, control the game, try to be the ones that impose our idea,» he said. «And try to do the most important thing in football, that is to win games at the end.» Reporting by The Associated Press.