Injuries 2025/26 | Kovacic could be ruled out for further 3-4 months (p37)

[Scaring Europe to Death]

As ever with social media we need the context.

What had Pep just been asked and what was his tone?

 

[Moss Side's Finest]

I know he’s injured and wasn’t in the named squad, but one of the City aggregators reported that he had travelled, although they may have got it wrong.

Thought that was Bernardo at first

 

[stan bowles]

Unfortunately I don't think we'll ever see the Ballon D'Or Rodri operating at that level again. That injury has seriously derailed his career and I'll think he'll always have difficulty staying injury-free from now on.

 

[Buckshaw Blue]

I know he’s injured and wasn’t in the named squad, but one of the City aggregators reported that he had travelled, although they may have got it wrong.

Ah fair enough. I was going off the club website which states he isn’t part of the travelling squad but seeing is believing!

 

[HelloCity]

Unfortunately I don't think we'll ever see the Ballon D'Or Rodri operating at that level again. That injury has seriously derailed his career and I'll think he'll always have difficulty staying injury-free from now on.

 

[Txiki Txiki Bang Bang]

Thought that was Bernardo at first

https://www.specsavers.co.uk/book/location

 

[dadnlad]

FFS !!!

Has he signed again

 

[Eaststander1]

Unfortunately I don't think we'll ever see the Ballon D'Or Rodri operating at that level again. That injury has seriously derailed his career and I'll think he'll always have difficulty staying injury-free from now on.

Yep, am beginning to think the same thing .

 

[Blue and true]

Unfortunately I don't think we'll ever see the Ballon D'Or Rodri operating at that level again. That injury has seriously derailed his career and I'll think he'll always have difficulty staying injury-free from now on.

Maybe, but if he's managed sensibly we can dominate again.

 

[Fordyboy46]

Doesn’t sound as bad as initial headlines/aggregators suggested:

Pep taking pressure off himself there, clever comments

 

[Fordyboy46]

We usually start the season off very well, not too concerned re him missing the first half a dozen or so matches, but id it's many more it will be a big concern

 

[Utter bobbins]

Resident medical experts out in force

 

[B\connellblue]

Well if Pep hasn't come up with an effective plan that compensates for his absence after nearly a year out then serious questions need asking. If Peps answer is Bernardo and Gundogan the hierarchy need to have a word in his ear. I honestly believe Pep no longer has the edge he once had on the rest of the league. The squad he has is Plenty good enough. A repeat of last years performances cannot be allowed. I want to see exciting, attacking football played at speed again.

 

[Robanompivenov]

I think a lot of fans need to adjust their expectations this season re Rodders. We wont have him back as the Rodri we knew until 2026. There will be a few of these niggling injuries between now and then. Sensible of the club to manage him back. Nico G and Reijnders more than capable of covering.

 

[robbieh]

Unfortunately I don't think we'll ever see the Ballon D'Or Rodri operating at that level again. That injury has seriously derailed his career and I'll think he'll always have difficulty staying injury-free from now on.

And that will be down to the amount of football he played pre injury.

Smaller squad? Don't think so. We'll just end up with more players sidelined.

 

[IronsideKozuch]

people have literally zero information and choose to bet on Rodri be eternally finished. You might as well chat about what the weather will be like exactly 78 days or 121 days from now. Rodri has the best possible support. So far, there’s nothing to suggest that the injury is going to completely finish the guy off. The club and Pep will be patient. Rodri isn’t the first case with an ACL:
- Shearer, season later 31 goals,
- Van Nistelrooy, on the edge of transfer to United and completing afterwards and we know the story,
- Xavi in 2006, we know what happened later,
- Pires in 2002, PL champion later,
- Totti 2007, been playing later onto 2017,
- Ibrahimovic, Quaresma,
- lately Timber, Militao, came back strong.

We have few on the other side of the odd chace and never come back to their best like Ronaldo (Nazario de Lima), Reus, Milik.

You bet anyway so my choice is to bet on the positive side

 

[King Jay]

Unfortunately I don't think we'll ever see the Ballon D'Or Rodri operating at that level again. That injury has seriously derailed his career and I'll think he'll always have difficulty staying injury-free from now on.

Nico G time I guess. They can both rotate. I personally also don’t expect him to perform at the same level again.

people have literally zero information and choose to bet on Rodri be eternally finished. You might as well chat about what the weather will be like exactly 78 days or 121 days from now. Rodri has the best possible support. So far, there’s nothing to suggest that the injury is going to completely finish the guy off. The club and Pep will be patient. Rodri isn’t the first case with an ACL:
- Shearer, season later 31 goals,
- Van Nistelrooy, on the edge of transfer to United and completing afterwards and we know the story,
- Xavi in 2006, we know what happened later,
- Pires in 2002, PL champion later,
- Totti 2007, been playing later onto 2017,
- Ibrahimovic, Quaresma,
- lately Timber, Militao, came back strong.

We have few on the other side of the odd chace and never come back to their best like Ronaldo (Nazario de Lima), Reus, Milik.

You bet anyway so my choice is to bet on the positive side

Rodri isn’t the first case with an ACL, yeah. you mentioned like 5 examples where it turned out good. There are much more examples of players losing their quality after an ACL than just those you named. For obvious reasons you only named the most known cases but also less bad ones than the good ones.

Quaresma literally wasn’t the same anymore. You telling us we have zero information while calling the name militao who has been injured for 2 years straight and was an absolute liability when he came to lose his place to asensio.
„ the best possible support „ other clubs do too unless our medical center is full of apprenticeships from angels.

Thinking about the possibility that Rodri won’t ever be the same is reasonable. If it’s only 90 instead of 100% it should still be enough.

 

[Corky]

He hasn't really been fit for City since May 24 v Villa.

The Euros 2024 messed him up and the CWC wasn't ideal either.

Hopefully he can get back to being 90% of the player he was rather than 75%.

 

[Father Paul]

Unfortunately I don't think we'll ever see the Ballon D'Or Rodri operating at that level again. That injury has seriously derailed his career and I'll think he'll always have difficulty staying injury-free from now on.

To early to say. But most certainly he will not be able to sustain the previous workload that was placed upon him. He will need far more rotation and if we are to challenge for major trophies we will need to demonstrate a lot more defensive solidity than we have without him in the past. Short term this could derail chances of a good start to the season which on paper is fairly difficult.

 

[.db.]

I know he’s injured and wasn’t in the named squad, but one of the City aggregators reported that he had travelled, although they may have got it wrong.

I’m not saying it isn’t true that Kovačić is in Sicily, but that City Report on X constantly post complete bollocks. They’re not even a news aggregator as they often don’t even post links to legitimise what they’ve posted.