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Hello! No Rodri, no party? Manchester City are about to find out.
Coming up:
🤕 City’s massive injury setback
💰 Inside Everton’s takeover deal
👦 Are young coaches taking over?
🕳️ Extraordinary rain-trashed pitch
Rodri pain: Severe injury a nightmare for Man City
Yesterday, I made the point that Rodri’s injury in Sunday’s slugfest between Manchester City and Arsenal turned the game. With hindsight, I badly underplayed it. It’s rapidly dawning on all and sundry that his injury has the potential to turn the entire season.
The midfielder is now in his native Spain, awaiting a full assessment of the damage to his right knee, but he won’t be holding out for a reprieve. Our understanding is that the injury is severe. Sources close to Rodri are telling The Athletic his season could be over.
For Pep Guardiola and City, that’s not a blow. It’s a Bill Goldberg spear.
The worst of it is that the moment the injury happened was something of nothing. There were naughty aspects to Sunday’s match — we’ve analysed the scuffles and time-wasting — but this wasn’t one of them; Rodri and Thomas Partey running together in anticipation of a corner, and his right leg giving way. Watching in slow motion, it doesn’t figure that the consequences were so bad.
Individually, only the loss of Erling Haaland could do Guardiola comparative harm. And the timing is freaky in two respects: firstly, coming with the 2024-25 Premier League in its infancy. And secondly, because of the news cycle last week.
Was he pushed too far?
Rodri has no history of being injury-prone. He made 58 appearances for club and country last season, including Spain’s victorious Euro 2024 campaign. He played 67 times in 2022-23, on the way to City winning the treble of Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League.
But it’s no more than seven days since he spoke out to air his frustration about football’s authorities swamping the calendar with fixtures. A case in point: City play again tonight (Tuesday), against Watford of the Championship in the Carabao Cup. They will have had fractionally more than 48 hours to recover from that draining draw with Arsenal.
Rodri warned the pressure on players and the lack of consideration for their physical and mental welfare could lead to strike action. Now he’s the victim of a bad injury. People are naturally asking: was he pushed too far? Is he the example of what he cautioned against? These guys might be machines but none of them are unbreakable. Not even Rodri.
What now?
Guardiola has other midfielders. Mateo Kovacic was Rodri’s replacement on Sunday but we all saw how City laboured, even against 10 men. And we all remember how Kalvin Phillips struggled to hit Rodri’s sky-high levels after arriving at the Etihad from Leeds United in summer 2022.
Rodri is elite in his role, the best of the best. Since he signed in summer 2019, City have lost just 19 Premier League matches with him in their line-up. Their win percentage in the competition stands at 74 per cent when he plays (compared to 62 per cent in his absence) and City are far more likely to generate chances and goals with him in the side (see above).
He went an entire year without featuring in a single defeat. His ability to hold and protect large spaces is what gives City their freedom. Without him, the title holders are instantly weakened.
They’re a long way out from the January transfer window too, and that’s not a window they like to deal in anyway, as options and value for money can be poor.
Guardiola isn’t going to throw in the towel. City top the table after five matches and he himself is the best of the best. But on account of this news, it’s hard not to think: advantage Arsenal.
News round-up
Everton Saviours? How Friedkin Group takeover would work
Photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton
Everton know better than to hold their breath. Three separate parties have made a fist of buying out owner Farhad Moshiri recently. All that transpired was disappointment.
That was until yesterday. One of those parties, The Friedkin Group (TFG), is back at the table having previously walked away because of concerns about Everton’s debts. The Texas-based investment firm has a deal in place with Moshiri. Without tempting fate, it smells like one which should close.
As far as the details go, we’ve compiled the most comprehensive of explainers right here but I’ve picked out the main points:
- TFG is hopeful of sealing its purchase of Everton by this Christmas. The bid is for a majority stake.
- The takeover will require several forms of approval, including a thumbs-up from the Premier League. On the basis that TFG already runs Italian side Roma, it has every chance of clearing those obstacles.
- TFG boasts annual revenues of over £8.3billion ($11bn) and its CEO, Dan Friedkin, has an estimated personal wealth of £4.6bn. The money is there and TFG has the credibility to access borrowing facilities too.
- One of Everton’s major debts, a loan of £200million, is owed to TFG. That helps.
(Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
We shouldn’t be rash in painting this as done and dusted. There’s work to do yet. And there’s the question of why TFG has about-turned after getting cold feet before.
The likely answer? The Premier League is tempting. And because of that, Everton are tempting — basket-case of a club or not. Their new stadium (above) opens next year and done right, they could aspire to more. Relegation this season is a risk and the road will be long, but TFG is braced for it.
Show Viz
Every now and again, something catches your eye. This is Alex Muzio, president of Belgian top-flight club Union Saint-Gilloise, talking about their attitude towards the age of a prospective manager: “We have an unofficial ceiling of 55.”
Now, that isn’t to say they’d tell Jurgen Klopp (57) he’s too old for them. Or that Guardiola (53) will be past it in two years’ time. But Union don’t fish in Guardiola-sized ponds. Very few clubs do. And for many, the appeal of younger coaches is on the up.
Nick Miller has been explaining why. Clubs like the fact fresher candidates can be more in tune with the idea of fitting into a bigger structure, where the world doesn’t revolve solely around them. Coaching careers have never been more legitimate pursuits for people with no substantial playing background. Some start studying for their coaching badges very early. Good enough becomes old enough.
So it is that Fabian Hurzeler is now running Brighton’s dugout at 31. He is indicative of the fact that the average age of Premier League bosses is at its lowest level for 20 years, down to 47. These things ebb and flow but make no mistake: the kids are alright.
Around The Athletic FC
Top photo: Getty Images, FC Twente; design: Dan Goldfarb
Catch a match
Carabao Cup, third round: Chelsea vs Barrow, 2.45pm/7.45pm — Paramount+/ Sky Sports; Manchester City vs Watford, 2.45pm/7.45pm — Paramount+/Sky Sports; Walsall vs Leicester City, 2.45pm/7.45pm — Paramount+/Sky Sports; Wycombe Wanderers vs Aston Villa, 2.45pm/7.45pm — CBS, Paramount+, Fubo/Sky Sports.
La Liga: Real Madrid vs Alaves, 3pm/8pm — ESPN+, Fubo/Premier Sports 1.
And finally…
(Jordan Pettitt/PA Images via Getty Images)
This is unusual: Newcastle United were supposed to be at AFC Wimbledon in the Carabao Cup’s third round today. But heavy rain in the London area on Sunday night and into Monday turned the League Two club’s pitch into something resembling a golf course (we found the aerial image above to show we’re not exaggerating) and there was no choice but to postpone the tie.
It’s been rearranged for next week but, in a break from tradition, despite AFC Wimbledon being drawn as the home team, it will now be played at Newcastle’s St James’ Park instead.
Wimbledon are meant to host Accrington Stanley in the league on Saturday, too. Something tells me the clean-up job won’t be quick.
(Top photo: Simon Stacpoole/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)
