Manchester City will be going through the rest of the 2024/25 season without one of their key players.

Back in September, Rodri suffered a season-ending injury during City’s 2-2 draw against Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium where he damaged his ACL and required surgery.

Despite making it to late October without losing a match, Pep Guardiola has now seen his City side lose three consecutive games for the first time since 2018.

On the back of this poor run of form, a pundit and former Premier League player has named a potential transfer target the Manchester club may look to sign in January, although he also discussed something that may disrupt City’s chances of doing so.

Jamie Carragher weighs up Man City signing Martin Zubimendi in January

While discussing the prospect of City turning to the January transfer market to bring in a replacement for Rodri, Jamie Carragher said this in his latest column for The Telegraph on the matter.

He said: “The void left by Rodri means City must consider the transfer market in January.

“I wonder whether they will try to succeed where Liverpool failed and lure Martin Zubimendi from Real Sociedad, the player whom top European scouts evidently feel is the best No 6 available beyond the Champions League clubs.

“Zubimendi is Rodri’s deputy in the Spain squad too.

“Whether he or anyone else would join City in January is linked to their second problem. Any player approached by City between now and the end of the season will want to wait for the outcome of the case into the 115 charges.

“Nobody knows if there will be significant sporting sanctions against the club. Until that has been resolved, a wise agent will tell his client to let the process take its course before putting pen to paper, especially if they have alternative options.”

City had the chance to sign Zubimendi in the summer

Back in September, it was reported that City “opted against” signing Zubimendi in the summer before he then went on to reject a transfer move to Liverpool.

When asked if City could sign a midfielder in January, Guardiola said this on the matter after he shared the details of the extent of Rodri’s injury that no City supporter wanted to hear.

He said: “We will see. We talked today with Txiki [Begiristain], 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.”

With Carragher mentioning City’s case against their alleged 115 financial breaches, a report from The Athletic shared these behind-the-scenes details on how this connects with player contracts.

It said: “Since the charges landed in February last year, there have been no clauses inserted into new signings’ contracts related to, for example, any potential relegation as, or as a result of, their punishment.

“In most cases, the charges are not even brought up during negotiations, unless it is by an agent. If that is the case, they are told what the City squad was told on the day the charges dropped 18 months ago: that there is nothing to worry about and to get on with the job.”

Moving forward, with City losing three consecutive games for the first time since 2018, if they can’t get their form back on track, bringing in a fresh face in January to help replace Rodri could be the way to go for the Blues.

Related Posts