Manager Pep Guardiola has revealed his star man will not be "really fit" until after the September international break after suffering the injury at the FIFA Club World Cup.

The Manchester City midfielder missed the majority of the 2024-2025 season after rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) against Arsenal last September.

Rodri returned as a substitute for the penultimate 2024-2025 Premier League game and featured in all four of its matches at the FIFA Club World Cup, but was substituted off against Al-Hilal with a reported groin problem.

Guardiola hopes Rodri can still play a role in his side's opening matches against Wolverhampton Wanderers, Tottenham Hotspur and Brighton and Hove Albion, but insisted it will not risk provoking another setback.

"Rodri is getting better, but he had a big injury in the last game against Al-Hilal," Guardiola said.

"He has trained better in the last few days. Hopefully after the international break, he will be really fit.

"Hopefully, in these games, he can play some minutes, but what is important is that he doesn't have pain because we don't want Rodri coming back injured. We will try desperately to avoid that.

"He has been training the last two sessions with us and that's good."

City has bolstered its midfield during the current transfer window, bringing in Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki and Sverre Nypan, but Rodri is an essential player for Guardiola.

Since Rodri’s FA Community Shield debut in August 2019, Man City has won 73.2 per cent of matches with the midfielder starting, but that figure dropped to 61.7 per cent without him across all competitions.