Alan Shearer: Rodri has a long and horrible road to recovery, I've been there myself | OneFootball

Alan Shearer

Alan Shearer speaks about Rodri's injury in his latest Betfair exclusive

Betfair Ambassador Alan Shearer believes Rodri's injury is a huge blow for Man City, thinks the Everton takeover is good news for fans at Goodison Park, backs Jadon Sancho to help Chelsea challenge for top four and expects Dominic Solanke to keep on scoring after netting his first for Spurs at the weekend...

Losing Rodri is a huge blow for Man City

There's no doubt that a potential season ending injury to Rodri will have an impact on Man City's title hopes.

He's one of their best players, he's been the boss in that position for a while now and we all know how important he is to Manchester City.

It's one thing knowing you're not having him for two or three games, like they had at the beginning of the season, but it's another thing knowing that he's probably not going to come back this season.

That's a big blow and I don't care who you are and what resources you've got, and Man City have a lot, when you lose a player of that calibre and quality, for that amount of time, there's no doubt it'll hurt them.

Rodri has been the best in that position and we know what he does and how much he stops the opposition. Not only that, but it's also what he gives to them as a leader so it'll be a huge blow to Manchester City.

This has an impact on the title race

There's no doubt that Man City have some good players to come in and maybe they'll dip into the transfer market in January if they can, but in terms of exactly how much it affects the title race we'll have to wait and see. In terms of an impact, it does have one.

It has an impact for Man City in terms of them being hurt, and it also has one for the rest of the league who are chasing Man City, particularly the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool or whoever that may be.

There isn't anyone better in world football than Rodri at what he does, so to have him out for that amount of time is a huge blow to Man City.

If you lost someone who was a squad player or someone you could replace, it's still a big blow, but not so much when you've got someone of equal ability to come, Man City don't have that because Rodri is the best at what he does in world football, so that'll give other clubs the opportunity to go and make the most of someone else's misfortune.

Rodri has a long and horrible road to recovery ahead of him

I've been there myself in terms of an ACL injury and I was out for six or seven months so I know exactly how Rodri will feel and how the football club will feel. It's a long road back.

It's horrible, it really is. It's devastating because what you love doing most is going into training, having the craic with the lads, then obviously playing football, and that's been taken away from you for however long.

Whether it's five months, six months, seven months or whatever it may be, it's a long road back.

You've got the operation, if Rodri is going to have that, then you're in a rest period and then you're in rehab period. It's a long road back and you have to be really strong mentally to get over it.

Good news finally at Goodison Park

News of an agreement for a takeover at Everton has to be good news because whatever happens at the top of any football club, eventually it always filters down onto the football pitch.

Everton are due to move into their new stadium in around 12 months time so if they can get through this season and survive in the Premier League then hopefully the new owners will come in, spend a few quid and improve Everton because for a huge club like them, who have been so successful to go through what they have done with points deductions and battling relegation and having to sell players, it has to be good news for all of those reasons.

Goodison Park is usually rocking, filled with excitement and hope, and it gets to the fans as well because we know what it's like, it's people's lives, it's what they look forward to doing. So, when it's not right and things are going as poorly as they have been week after week, it becomes draining, so the takeover news will be a huge boost for them.

New ownership won't affect Sean Dyche

Sean Dyche has been around the block, he knows what football's like, and he knows that when a change happens at the top in terms of ownership, a lot of the time change happens in the dressing room, but if it happens then it happens.

Sean has done a good job in terms of what he's done and what he's had to do because of lack of resources.

If it happens, Sean will take it on the chin. It won't be nice but he'll just crack on, do what he can and do what he's good at, which is managing.

The takeover news won't affect Sean at all, he'll just get out and do his job, he's that experienced.

Everton have been under huge pressure and haven't won yet this season. I don't think anyone's been slacking, it's just the way Everton are now as a club.

Everyone will want to impress the new ownership but you have to look and say 'what's been going on beforehand?' If you want to go out and impress now when your club are near the bottom of the league, just because there's a change of owner, it doesn't mean you'll immediately see a change of results.

For Everton's sake I hope they do but in terms of who and what they are now, it'll take time for them to get back to where they want to be.

I'm pleased for Jadon Sancho, he's started well at Chelsea but must now keep it up

Jadon Sancho had to get out of Man United, so him doing that was a positive straight away because clearly there was a breakdown in communication or relationship between him and the football club or him and the manager.

We know there's talent in Jadon, getting it out of him is the thing and he wasn't going to be able to show that at Man United.

Jadon has shown that if he's in the right environment and the right circumstances then he'll be able to showcase his talent and he's had a decent start at Chelsea but he has to keep it going.

We saw it at Dortmund but we didn't see it anywhere near enough at Man United so for his and Chelsea's sake, it was a good signing and at the right time.

Chelsea have so many options in Sancho's position, you can list four or five players that can compete on the right or left wing but if we see the Jadon Sancho that we know can perform then he'll be a great acquisition for Chelsea in terms of where they want to go and whether they can challenge for a spot in the top four.

Solanke's confidence will be high after getting important first goal

Dominic Solanke will be absolutely delighted after scoring his first goal for his new club.

He'll be relieved and all of those types of emotions because, through no fault of his own, he's gone for a massive transfer fee. Someone's been prepared to pay £65million that would've been hanging over him.

He was also injured and only started a couple of games so already the noise increases and the quicker you get that goal, the better it is for you, for the club and for the belief that the fans have in you.

He'll have had a really good weekend because for a forward, a goal makes all the difference.

Ideally, Solanke would've loved to have played the next day because of his confidence and he'll just not be able to wait to get out for the next game.

We see it with so many strikers, when you get your first goal it's a massive relief and you just want the next game to come as quick as possible.

One of the things that has stood out for Spurs in the early games is that they got into so many good positions and they were really wasteful in three or four of those first five games.

They have created chances and got into those positions, they've just been really poor in front of goal.

Brennan Johnson got his goal so that'll do him the world of good and they need to go on a good run now.