Manchester City receive mixed injury news as attacker returns to training but star man missing

It was mixed news on the injury front for Manchester City on Wednesday, with one player returning after a recent knock, but another key player remains absent.

The Premier League champions began their 2024/25 season with an away win against Chelsea last week, and face Ipswich Town on Saturday in their maiden home match of the new season.

But it looks increasingly likely that they will be without Rodri for the game with the midfielder missing Wednesday’s training session. The Spaniard only returned to pre-season training last week after his run to the Euro 2024 final, and missed the trip to Chelsea.

“We will see when he starts to move his body how does he feel,” Pep Guardiola said last week when asked about Rodri, before confirming he would not be an option at Stamford Bridge.

It’s not clear at this stage whether Rodri, who was selected in the 2023/24 PFA Team of the Year this week, is still being eased back into first-team duties after a long summer, or is suffering from a knock. The 28-year-old picked up a thigh injury in Spain’s Euro 2024 final victory over England last month and has not played since.

As per Sky Sports reporter Ben Ransom, the midfielder was not involved in City's latest session at their CFA training base, although Savinho did train with the squad. The Brazilian was replaced at half-time in the win over Chelsea, but should be an option to face Ipswich on Saturday.

“Some distributing in the knee. He said he knows perfectly why, had it in the past,” Guardiola said on Sunday when asked about Savinho’s injury.

“He has to solve it and it’s a question of a lack of preparation, a lack of training sessions. Apparently it’s not a big, big problem. Will be ready for hopefully next Saturday.”

If he’s fit, Savinho could occupy a spot on the left flank, like last week, while Jeremy Doku, Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva are also options to play in the wide areas.