Jamie Carragher Warns Manchester City Not to Sell Rodri Cheap as Real Madrid Circle

Rodri spent the summer captaining Spain to a World Cup and picking up the Golden Ball as the tournament’s outstanding player. He then went under the knife. Manchester City confirmed this week that their midfielder has successfully undergone minor back surgery, closing out a remarkable few months with a spell on the treatment table rather than a holiday.

The timing has not gone unnoticed at the Bernabeu. Real Madrid are believed to have made initial contact with City over a move for Spain’s World Cup-winning captain, just as reports of his surgery broke. Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher has a blunt message for his old rivals: do not let him go on the cheap.

A World Cup Capped by Surgery

City’s statement on the procedure read: “Manchester City can confirm that Rodri has successfully undergone minor back surgery. The midfielder had been experiencing discomfort for some time, but has now undergone a procedure to address the issue and will begin a short period of rehabilitation.”

Rodri had been carrying the issue through the World Cup and chose to delay treatment rather than miss the tournament. It proved the right call. He lifted the trophy with Spain and left North America with the Golden Ball as the player of the finals.

The operation now leaves him racing the clock. Rodri is expected to miss the Community Shield against Arsenal on August 16 and is a doubt for City’s Premier League opener at home to Bournemouth on August 23, the first fixture of Enzo Maresca’s first full season in charge.

Reports on how long the recovery will take vary sharply. One Spanish outlet has suggested Rodri could resume full training inside three weeks, while other reports describe this type of back procedure as carrying a recovery period stretching to several months. City’s own statement stopped short of giving a firm return date, describing only a short period of rehabilitation to come.

Two Seasons Interrupted by Injury

The surgery adds to a run of fitness setbacks that have shaped Rodri’s recent career at City. An anterior cruciate ligament injury in September 2024 restricted him to just three Premier League appearances in the 2024-25 campaign. Further problems limited him to 21 top-flight outings last season. Both spells lined up with a drop-off in City’s title challenge, a pattern Carragher believes is no coincidence.

Liverpool won the Premier League under Arne Slot in the season Rodri picked up his ACL injury early on, a swing in fortunes Carragher pointed to directly when asked whether City could afford to sell their midfielder this summer.

It has been an unusual stretch for a player who won the Ballon d’Or in 2024. Rodri went from the best individual season of his career to watching most of the following campaign from the sidelines, then returned in time to help drag City back into title contention before closing the season out alongside Bernardo Silva. This summer’s World Cup performance, and now the surgery, bookend a two-year run that has swung between the very best and very worst of his time in England.

A Contract Situation Real Madrid Are Watching

Rodri has one year left on his City contract, and Real Madrid are believed to be willing to pay in the region of £43m to £51m for him. City do not want to sell. Maresca wants his new-look midfield built around Rodri, and the club are instead hoping to agree fresh terms with a player Guardiola once called the best in his position anywhere in the world.

City have already spent heavily to reshape the engine room around him this summer, with the £116m arrival of Elliot Anderson the headline addition. A new deal for Rodri would settle the one remaining piece of business that could undo all of that work in a single sale, and City’s reluctance to even discuss a fee with Real Madrid suggests they see it that way too.

Real Madrid’s interest fits a wider pattern. The Spanish champions have already brought in Marc Cucurella from Chelsea this summer, and president Florentino Perez faced criticism after his re-election for the club’s thin representation in the Spain squad. Rodri, sources close to the club suggest, is the player every part of Real Madrid wants next.

The interest also lands on the back of the best individual summer of Rodri’s career. He was already a fixture in the conversation for this year’s Ballon d’Or before the World Cup, named alongside Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe as one of three players with a real case, and captaining Spain to the trophy in North America has only strengthened that claim.

Carragher’s Case for Keeping Him

Carragher used his Sky Sports column to make the case for City holding firm. “£40-50m? If you’re Manchester City, what’s the point in selling them? You might as well just keep them for the extra year,” he said. “He’s as good as anybody in that position in the Premier League, probably the best. Seeing what he was like in the World Cup, it was like he was back to his best.”

He pointed to Rodri’s second half of last season alongside Bernardo Silva as proof of what City stand to lose. “I thought the second half of the season him and Bernardo Silva were fantastic and almost took Manchester City to the title,” Carragher said. “So, if I was the manager of Manchester City, I’d be keeping Rodri at that price. It’d have to be something really special to want me to lose arguably the best midfield player in world football.”

Bernardo Silva has already left for Real Madrid this summer, which sharpens Carragher’s argument about who City can turn to in his absence. “I’d see those two as a pair. I see Elliot Anderson as almost the replacement for Bernardo Silva, who’s gone to Real Madrid. So, I think that’d be a big hole. It’d be really difficult to fill,” he said, referring to the £116m summer signing from Nottingham Forest.

Carragher also raised the financial side of any sale. “£40-50m? If you’re Manchester City, what’s the point in selling them? You might as well just keep them for the extra year. He’s as good as anybody in that position in the Premier League, probably the best,” he said.

Why City Struggle Without Him

Sky Sports’ Laura Hunter went further on Rodri’s standing in the current Premier League. “The best midfielder in the world by far,” was how Guardiola once described him in their years working together at City. Their in-play approach revolved around Rodri’s ability to receive the ball under pressure and set the tempo of a match, a role he repeated for Spain across the World Cup.

City failed to retain the Premier League title in both seasons Rodri spent significant time out injured, a record Hunter argues is no accident. Elliot Anderson offers City a version of the same profile as a 23-year-old box-to-box midfielder, but not yet the same control over a match that Rodri provides.

For now, the decision sits with City. Rodri’s recovery will keep him out of the opening weeks of the season regardless of what happens with Real Madrid’s interest, giving Maresca an early test of squad depth before his first Premier League midfielder returns to the pitch he controlled so completely this summer.

Maresca inherits a squad still shaped by the Guardiola years, and how he handles the Rodri situation will say plenty about the direction he wants to take City in. Keep him and City retain the one player capable of dictating a match from deep, the role Hunter argues nobody else at the club can fill. Sell him at a discount with a year left on his deal, and City hand a rival the same player Carragher says nearly won them the title.

The gap between the two clubs explains why City are digging in on price. City have set their valuation at around €80m for Rodri, while Real Madrid’s early approaches have been pitched closer to €60m, leaving the sides roughly €20m apart on a fee. Rodri is in the final year of his City contract, a factor that gives Madrid an opening to push for a discount rather than paying what a player of his standing would normally command.

City have not accepted any bid and continue talks over extending his contract rather than sanctioning a sale this window. Keeping Rodri available alongside new midfield signing Elliot Anderson would restore the control City lost for long stretches last season, when injuries to their captain coincided with their toughest run under Maresca’s predecessor. Carragher’s argument comes down to simple math: City are unlikely to reinvest a Rodri fee anywhere near as effectively as keeping him would be worth on the pitch.

Either way, the next month will tell City fans plenty about what kind of club they are becoming under their new manager. Rodri’s rehabilitation, his contract talks and Real Madrid’s interest are all now running on parallel tracks, and only one of them is fully within City’s control.