Guardiola confirms injured Rodri out for season

MANCHESTER, England — Manchester City midfielder Rodri will miss the rest of the season after surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament, manager Pep Guardiola confirmed Friday.

Rodri suffered a knee injury during the 2-2 draw with Arsenal and traveled to Spain for tests on Monday. Speaking at a news conference on Friday, Guardiola confirmed the Spain international had an operation and will be sidelined for the rest of the campaign.

“Surgery this morning, ACL. Next season he will be here. This season is over. Unfortunately we got the worst [news] but these things happen. We will be there to support him in his recovery step-by-step,” Guardiola said.

City struggled to cope with Rodri’s absence last season and lost the only three Premier League games he missed. Guardiola has called the 28-year-old “irreplaceable” but said he has options in midfield including Mateo Kovacic, Ilkay Gündogan and even defender John Stones.

“What he gives us, we don’t have a similar player,” Guardiola said. The City manager also confirmed Kevin De Bruyne will miss the trip to Newcastle on Saturday with a thigh injury.

“But the others can all together replace what Rodri has given since his arrival to us. We will have to do it as a team and find a way to play a lot of matches without an important player for us.

“Mateo Kovacic, and I have a few more. Ilkay Gündogan can play in that position, John Stones [has] too. We have alternatives.”

Guardiola also left the door open to replacing Rodri in the January transfer window. Last season’s backup, Kalvin Phillips, has moved to Ipswich Town on loan and the City boss said the club could look to sign another midfielder when they get an opportunity after Christmas.

“We will see,” he said. “We talked today with [sporting director] Txiki [Begiristain] and we’ll see how it’s going. We don’t have to decide tomorrow, right? We have time to see potential problems we have, and we’ll see.”