Manchester City midfielder Rodri has travelled to Spain to undergo further tests on a knee injury.
On Sunday afternoon, the 28-year-old was making his first Premier League start of the season having been eased back into action after Euro 2024.
Having completed the 90 minutes versus Inter Milan in the Champions League four days prior to the showdown with Arsenal, the hope was that the Spain international was closing in on full fitness.
However, inside the first quarter of the contest at the Etihad Stadium, Rodri went down clutching his knee after colliding with Thomas Partey.
Rodri was subsequently withdrawn and Pep Guardiola indicated after the 2-2 draw that one of his star men had "felt something" in his knee.
The following day, widespread reports emerged that the initial scan had ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament and would likely miss the rest of the season.
© Imago
Rodri seeks further advice
As per journalist Victor Navarro and The Sun, Rodri has since made the journey to Barcelona to seek further medical advice from Dr Ramon Cugat, who is considered to be the "Messi of medicine".
City are no strangers to using the expertise of Cugat and hope to determine whether or not they will be without Rodri for the remainder of 2024-25.
The report says that Rodri was only walking with a slight limp as he made his way out of the airport, not wearing anything to protect the injury.
With Pep Guardiola facing the media after City's EFL Cup tie with Watford on Tuesday night, as well as later this week, frequent updates are expected to follow.
© Imago
A monumental miss for Man City
Although Erling Haaland has just reached the 100-goal mark for City in 105 matches, City fans place as much importance on the presence of Rodri for their success.
In the 260 matches that he has featured, City have prevailed 74% of the time. When he has been absence, that figure falls down to 64%.
Most notably, however, City are on a 51-match unbeaten run in the Premier League when Rodri has featured, not losing with him in the side since February 2023.
A solution will now need to be found, Guardiola having the likes of Rico Lewis, John Stones, Mateo Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan who will come under consideration.
Darren Plant
