Manchester City Man City, which is seeking its fifth consecutive victory in the English Premier League EPL, is on alert.

“Midfielder Rodri 28, Spain, who suffered a knee injury in the last match against Arsenal, is likely to be absent for a long time,” adding, “There are concerns that he will not be able to return this season.”

According to local reports, Rodri collapsed in the 16th minute of the first half during a home game against Arsenal in the fifth round of the 2024-25 EPL on the 23rd, holding his right knee while competing for a ball with opponent midfielder Thomas Partey. Eventually, he was replaced in the 21st minute of the first half after complaining of severe pain.

According to the detailed examination, Rodri’s injury is a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. Surgery is inevitable. If he gets on the operating table, he will be unable to play in this season. Rodri is expected to undergo surgery in his home country of Barcelona, Spain.

Rodri is the world’s best defensive midfielder in name and reality. He is said to have outstanding physical and defensive skills, build-up, ball technique, repression, tackle, passing skills, and scoring ability.

He is also the most important player in the ultra-luxury group Manchester City, where all the world’s superstars gather. Manchester City has never lost the past 48 league games in which Rodri started. Of the five games that Rodri lost in all competitions last season, four were absent. The only game Rodri lost was the FA Cup final against Manchester United. It means that the difference between having Rodri and not having Rodri has a big impact on Manchester City’s performance.

According to Opta, a soccer statistics company, the winning rate of 260 games including all competitions that Rodri played in from the 2019-20 season was 73 percent. The losing rate was only 11 percent. On the other hand, the winning rate of 45 games without Rodri dropped to 64 percent and the losing rate rose sharply to 24 percent. In terms of average score per game, the average score per game was 2.36 for Rodri, while the average for games without Rodri was 2.04.

Rodri, who was named the tournament’s most valuable player when Spain won Euro 2024, which ended in July, injured his hamstring at the tournament and joined the team just before the opening of the EPL this season.

Rodri, who left Atletico Madrid Spain to join Manchester City in July 2019, has been far from injured. In the first season of his transfer to Manchester City, starting with 52 official games in the 2019-20 season, he played in 46 games in the 2021-22 season, 56 games in the 2022-23 season, and 50 games in the 2023-24 season. After wearing the Manchester City uniform, he played in more than four seasons or 50 games in the past five seasons.

However, he struggled in the aftermath of his hamstring injury from the beginning of this season, and was eventually hamstrung by his major injury. Some point out that Rodri’s injury was largely affected by his excessive game schedule. 메이저놀이터

Rodri also complained at a press conference ahead of the first leg of the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League UCL phase on the 17th, saying, “I think the number of games is too high,” adding, “It’s probably a common idea of the players.”

Pep Guardiola, the Manchester City manager, used to say that it would be impossible to replace Rodri in the position of defensive midfielder. However, for the time being, we have no choice but to put another player in Rodri’s place.

Matteo Kovacic, Ilkay Gündogan and Bernardou Silva are considered candidates to fill the position, but they are not all professional defensive midfielders. Some predict that they will recruit new defensive midfielders in the upcoming winter transfer market.