Enzo Maresca finally faced the media as Manchester City's manager on Thursday, and it took only a few questions before the conversation turned to the one storyline hanging over his new job: whether his first City season is about to begin without Rodri in it.
"Around big players there are always rumors, so I'm not worried about that," Maresca said, according to ONE. "Every manager would want Rodri in their team, because he is a player of the highest level." The comment was as close as the new boss came to acknowledging the noise around a possible Rodri exit to Real Madrid this window.
Maresca also put a firm date on the Spaniard's next steps. "He will have back surgery on Monday," he said. "After that he needs vacation, rest, recovery, and then he will come back to us." That points to the operation taking place on July 27, with no announced timetable for a return to training.
The context is hard to ignore. Rodri captained Spain to World Cup glory this summer and picked up the tournament's Golden Ball as its outstanding player, only to need surgery on a back complaint weeks later. His City contract runs only to the summer of 2027, and Spanish reports have persistently linked him with a return home to Real Madrid, even if nothing concrete has been reported between the two clubs.
Maresca chose not to fight that speculation head-on, framing it instead as the inevitable price of coaching one of the world's outstanding midfielders. His tone suggested confidence that Rodri's rehabilitation, not a transfer saga, will be the more pressing issue in the coming months.
On the bigger question of his own appointment, Maresca was fulsome in his praise for the man he is replacing. "It is a great privilege to replace Pep, and the fact that the club chose me is an enormous honor," he said, before adding: "I consider Pep the best manager in the world in the last 20-25 years."
Maresca arrives at the Etihad Stadium with a resume built quickly and impressively. He led Leicester City to the Championship title in 2023-24, then moved to Chelsea, where he won the UEFA Conference League and the FIFA Club World Cup across the following two seasons before City came calling to replace Guardiola this summer.
It is a considerable brief to inherit: nearly a decade of trophies under Guardiola, and a squad whose defensive-midfield identity has been built almost entirely around Rodri since his arrival from Atlético Madrid. Managing that transition — with his best pivot facing surgery rather than pre-season training — will be Maresca's first real test before a ball is even kicked.
