Manchester City have been dealt some big injury blows in the early months of the 2024/25 season.
After seeing Oscar Bobb suffer a serious leg injury right before City’s latest Premier League campaign kicked off, the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Nathan Ake have also picked up injuries that have led to them missing matches for Pep Guardiola’s side.
Another serious injury setback the champions have been handed in their hunt to land a fifth consecutive Premier League trophy concerns Rodri.
Having seen the midfielder get forced off the pitch in City’s 2-2 draw against Arsenal, Guardiola revealed that Rodri will be out injured for the season.
This has now led to some behind-the-scenes details coming to light regarding the possibility of seeing City bring a new midfielder to the Etihad Stadium during the upcoming January transfer window.
- READ MORE: Who is Rodri? Get to know Man City’s modest midfield maestro who won a Champions League final
Man City want new midfielder with Premier League experience
According to a recent report from Give Me Sport, City are likelier to sign a midfielder in the January transfer window than to leave the squad as it is following Rodri’s injury blow.
The report also adds that while the club have looked at midfield options from clubs across Europe, they would prefer to target someone who has Premier League experience.
GMS have stated: “Manchester City are still coming to terms with Rodri’s season-ending injury and there is an expectation that a plan to replace him will be given the green light in January.
“GMS sources are indicating that the club are ‘more likely than not’ to reinforce their midfield in January.”
What has Guardiola said about signing a new midfielder?
After explaining the serious extent of the 28-year-old’s knee injury, Guardiola spoke about City potentially signing a Rodri replacement in January.
He said: “We will see. We talked today with Txiki, we will see what’s going on. We don’t have to decide tomorrow, right? We have time to see the potential problems we will have and after we will see.”
One midfielder with Premier League experience City have been linked with a transfer move for in recent memory is Bruno Guimaraes.
Specifically, The Telegraph reported back in April that City and Arsenal were interested in signing the midfielder from Newcastle United last summer.
Despite that, Danny Murphy claimed that Guimaraes is not as good as Rodri defensively, which could have played a part in why they didn’t make a move for him in the summer.
However, with Rodri now out of action for the season, this may force the club’s hand to launch a move for Guimaraes, or another top-flight midfielder once the January transfer window opens.
