Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has omitted the Spain International from his team for the pre-season-friendly against Palermo this weekend while he continues to recover from an injury
Pep Guardiola believes that Manchester City will be without a fully fit Rodri until mid -September.
The Spain star suffered a groin problem during the FIFA Club World Cup against Al-Hilal in the last 16. The Ballon d'Or Winner, 29, has largely done individual work of the first team since the players of the city returned from their summer vacation last week.
This week he participated in two full sessions, but was not included in the team to travel to Palermo this weekend, will not play on Wolves on the opening day of the season and – while he was able to appear against Spurs and Brighton – is wrapped in cotton wool until the first international break of the season.
“Rodri gets better, but he had a big injury to Al Hilal in the last game,” said Guardiola. “He has trained better in recent days, hopefully after the international break is when he will really be fit.
“Hopefully he can play for a few minutes in these games, but what is important is that he is not in pain because we do not want this Rodri to come back injured.
“We desperately try to avoid that. He has trained the last two sessions with us and that's good.”
Rodri is one of the four players left behind to prevent fitness risks. England International Phil Foden, Josko Gvardiol and younger Claudio Echeverri are all not completely fit and have therefore not traveled.
Foden and Gvardiol will both strive to start Wolves in Molineux this Saturday, while the future of Echeverri will remain uncertain in the midst of loan interest and an excess of non-gay group players for City to include in their Champions League team.