Guardiola on importance of managing Rodri’s return | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has re-emphasised how crucial it is that City handle Rodri’s return to full fitness with care.

The Ballon d’Or winner suffered a serious knee injury last September and has since battled back to make one cameo at the end of the last Premier League season before four subsequent appearances at the FIFA Club World Cup.

While our star midfielder remains in training, Guardiola has insisted that he will not throw him in the deep end at the start of the 2025/26 campaign.

City start the new Premier League season at Wolves at 17:30 (UK) on Saturday, but Guardiola has the whole campaign in mind when plotting Rodri’s comeback.

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“It’s a difficult injury because they say that the year after, you always have some muscular problems, so we try desperately to avoid it but it’s difficult to know exactly how many games and minutes he needs,” the City boss said.

“He’s desperate to play. We need his ambition, his personality, quality. He was named last season the best player in the world.

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“That’s why it’s really important to have him back. To see him back in the locker room made me smile, he's so close.

“He’s close to coming back for a few minutes then take one day rest. To read that is what is the most difficult to know what's best for him.”

After a third-place finish in 2024/25, Guardiola will now be going for his seventh Premier League title in 10 seasons at City this term.

However, the boss would not be drawn into predictions about how this term will pan out when he addressed the media during Friday’s pre-match press conference.

“We try to win at Wolves tomorrow and then after we will see,” he said.

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“We won six Premier Leagues together and I never said in my first press conference we are going to win this title or the other one.

“I don’t know, I would like to tell you. No clue. I don’t have any idea, try to be fit and try to have a good game, try to apply a little bit what is the good for type of players we have.

“The way we have to play is suitable to the way we want to change a few things for the quality of the players we have.”