There is a number that haunts Manchester City’s data room more than any other. It is not goals conceded or xG differentials. It is this: with Rodri in the team, City win 74% of their Premier League matches. Without him, that win rate drops to 59%. For a club built on marginal gains and Pep Guardiola’s obsessive tactical control, a 15-percentage-point drop in win rate linked to a single player tells a story no transfer budget can easily solve.
Rodrigo Hernández Cascante, known simply as Rodri, turned 29 in June 2025. He holds a university degree in business administration. He avoids social media entirely. And for the better part of six seasons, he has been the most consequential player in the most successful club in English football history. Not the most spectacular. Not the highest-paid. The most consequential.
This is an investigation into the data, the disruption, and the difficult return of the man Pep Guardiola once described as “the best midfield player, currently, in the world by far.”
Who Is Rodri? A Career Compressed Into Context
Rodri played for Atlético Madrid and Villarreal before joining Manchester City in July 2019, when the club paid his £62.8 million release fee. That fee, record-breaking at the time, would become one of the smartest pieces of business in Premier League history. He became an integral part of Guardiola’s tactical setup, playing nearly every game as City won a league-record four consecutive Premier League titles from the 2020-21 to the 2023-24 season. He also scored Manchester City’s winning goal in the 2023 UEFA Champions League final against Inter Milan.
Rodri became only the second male Spanish player to win the Ballon d’Or after Luis Suárez, who did so in 1960, and the first Manchester City player to claim football’s most prestigious individual award.
His style is not built on flash. He averages a passing accuracy of 91 to 92% and has a 73% success rate at tackles. He is physically strong and tall, which helps him win challenges and aerial duels. Beyond raw physicality, he is known for his versatility and tactical intelligence.
Data Table 1: Rodri Season-by-Season Statistics at Manchester City
| Season | Apps (All Comps) | Goals | Assists | Pass Acc. % | Trophies Won |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-20 | 52 | 4 | 5 | ~91% | EFL Cup, Community Shield |
| 2020-21 | 53 | 5 | 7 | ~91% | Premier League, EFL Cup |
| 2021-22 | 51 | 6 | 8 | ~92% | Premier League |
| 2022-23 | 54 | 9 | 10 | ~92% | PL, FA Cup, Champions League |
| 2023-24 | 63* | 12 | 15 | 92.47% | PL, UEFA Super Cup, Club WC |
| 2024-25 | 3 (ACL injury) | 0 | 0 | N/A | None (first since 2017) |
| 2025-26† | 20 | 1 | 0 | ~91% | EFL Cup |
*Includes Spain appearances. †Premier League data to May 2026. Sources: FotMob, Opta, Sportmonks, FBref.
The Peak: Why 2023-24 Won the Ballon d’Or
In 2023-24, Rodri made 63 appearances for club and country, registering 12 goals and 15 assists. In the Premier League, City did not lose a single game in which he played, going 27-7-0 with him in the side and 1-0-3 without.
Rodri was the only player in the Premier League to average more than 100 successful passes per game, managing 103. He recorded 126 touches per 90 minutes, 24 more than any of his teammates. He led the entire Premier League in open-play sequence involvements per 90 minutes at 8.4.
His key stats for the season across the Premier League and Euro 2024 included 9 goals, 9 assists, 57 key passes, and 26 interceptions, underpinned by a pass completion rate of 92.47%.
Then came Euro 2024. Spain played seven matches. Won all seven. Rodri was awarded Player of the Tournament. He had, across fourteen months between March 2023 and May 2024, gone 74 games unbeaten for club and country, a streak broken only by the FA Cup final defeat to Manchester United.
“Pep Guardiola described him as ‘the best midfield player, currently, in the world by far.’ In March 2024, members of ESPN FC staff debated whether Rodri was, in fact, the best player in the world outright.” — Wikipedia / ESPN FC, March 2024
The Injury That Broke a Dynasty
On September 22, 2024, in a 2-2 draw at the Etihad against Arsenal, Rodri went down clutching his knee in the first half. Guardiola confirmed shortly after: “He had surgery this morning, ACL and some meniscus. So, next season he will be here. This season is over.”
What followed was one of the most dramatic single-injury collapses in Premier League history. City’s season unraveled soon after Rodri was ruled out, with the team effectively surrendering the league title before the turn of the year and ending the season without a trophy for the first time since 2017, after losing the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace.
Their average points-per-game without Rodri translated to a projected tally of 76 points for the season, some 15 below their title-winning haul of 91 points the previous campaign.
The data on Rodri’s indispensability, seen purely through the lens of City’s results, is staggering.
Data Table 2: Manchester City Win Rate — With and Without Rodri (Premier League)
| Scenario | Games | Wins | Draws | Losses | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| With Rodri (2019-2024) | ~195 | ~144 | ~27 | ~24 | 74% |
| Without Rodri (same period) | ~59 | ~35 | ~10 | ~14 | 59% |
| 2023-24 with Rodri | 27 | 27 | 7 | 0 | 100% (unbeaten) |
| 2023-24 without Rodri | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 25% |
| 2024-25 (Rodri absent) | ~33 | ~16 | ~7 | ~10 | ~48% |
Sources: Opta Analyst, William Hill, GiveMeSport, Premier League
What Makes Rodri Different: The Tactical Intelligence Argument
The statistics explain what happened when he left. But they don’t fully explain why. That requires understanding what Rodri actually does on a pitch, which is several things simultaneously that no single metric captures cleanly.
Rodri differs from most midfield anchors in that he anticipates opposition movements to sweep up possession without needing to tackle or intercept very often, meaning he regains the ball for City through positioning rather than brute force. That allows City to retain control, momentum and possession, pinning opponents back. It is arguably the sole reason why, in 2023-24, City topped the Premier League charts for possession at 65.2% despite pressing relatively little, ranking just ninth for passes per defensive action.
The more conventional holding midfielder presses and chases. Rodri reads. He sees the pass two moves before it happens, positions his body accordingly, and the ball arrives in his area as if by appointment. That capacity for premeditated interception, rather than reactive tackling, is why his tackle stats occasionally look modest in comparison to his true defensive contribution.
With Rodri in the team, City have managed to pick up 413 points in the Premier League during his time at the club. That alone is more than local rivals Manchester United have accumulated since the 2018-19 season, the year before Rodri first wore a sky-blue shirt.
Data Table 3: Rodri vs. Elite Holding Midfielders — Comparable Seasons
| Player | Club | Pass Acc. % | Key Passes/90 | Interceptions/90 | Tackles Won % | Ballon d’Or |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rodri (2023-24) | Man City | 92.47% | 1.21 | 0.63 | 73% | Winner (2024) |
| Casemiro (prime) | Real Madrid | ~89% | 0.85 | 1.12 | 71% | Never won |
| Declan Rice (2023-24) | Arsenal | ~88% | 1.05 | 0.91 | 68% | Not nominated |
| Jude Bellingham (2023-24) | Real Madrid | ~88% | 2.12 | 0.44 | 61% | 3rd (2024) |
| Granit Xhaka (2023-24) | Bayer Leverkusen | ~90% | 1.18 | 0.88 | 67% | Not nominated |
Sources: Sportmonks, Opta, FBref, L’Équipe Ballon d’Or data
The Comeback: A Story Still Being Written
On May 20, 2025, Rodri made his comeback from the long-term injury, coming on as a late substitute in a 3-1 win against Bournemouth in the penultimate match of the season, eight months after surgery. The Ballon d’Or winner had been collected his trophy on crutches in October 2024.
The standing ovation he received at the Etihad was immediate. What followed was more complicated. After coming on in the second half of the Club World Cup last-16 tie against Al Hilal, Rodri was substituted during extra time after complaining of discomfort in his knee. He asked to be replaced in a win over Napoli in September, and the following month was forced off in the first half of a win at Brentford with a hamstring problem.
The medical picture was delicate. Former sports physio Gary Lewin, speaking to ESPN, said ACL recovery timelines for players are often misunderstood: “With ACL injuries, we would tell players that it takes approximately nine months to get back to the pitch — it might be a bit longer — but you might not feel like yourself again for at least a year.”
By the 2025-26 Premier League season, Rodri had recorded 1 goal, 0 assists across 1,423 minutes, with an average FotMob rating of 7.47. These are not the numbers of the Ballon d’Or winner. They are the numbers of a player carefully and responsibly finding his feet again after a catastrophic injury. The good news is they are trending in the right direction. The concern is the recurring soft tissue issues that have plagued each phase of his return.
Data Table 4: Rodri Career Trophy Haul — A Complete Overview
| Trophy | Competition | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Premier League | England | 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23, 2023-24 |
| FA Cup | England | 2022-23 |
| EFL Cup | England | 2019-20, 2020-21, 2025-26 |
| UEFA Champions League | Europe | 2022-23 |
| UEFA Super Cup | Europe | 2018-19 (Atletico), 2023-24 (City) |
| FIFA Club World Cup | Global | 2023 |
| Community Shield | England | 2019-20, 2024-25 |
| UEFA Euro | International | 2024 |
| UEFA Nations League | International | 2022-23 |
| UEFA U19 Championship | International | 2015 |
Total: 18 major titles. Sources: FotMob, UEFA, FIFA
The 2025-26 Question: Can He Return to His Peak?
Guardiola has consistently stressed the need to be cautious with the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner, and after Rodri missed several games with recurring injury complaints, admitted he could not put a timeframe on the Spaniard’s return. “Rodri still is not available. He is getting better. We’ll see. Hopefully soon, but not yet.”
The 2025-26 campaign has seen glimpses of what Rodri can still be. His rating of 7.47 per match on FotMob places him highly among defensive midfielders in the division. But City fans who watched the Ballon d’Or season know the difference between a 7.47 Rodri and a peak Rodri. The ceiling is much, much higher than where he currently operates.
The EFL Cup trophy in 2025-26 is a reminder that even a recovering Rodri lifts City. His presence, even limited, reorganises the team around a fixed point that oppositions struggle to bypass. With Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki now part of a revamped squad, the question becomes whether Guardiola can build a new engine room with Rodri as the anchor, rather than the lone engine.
Data Table 5: Manchester City’s Transition — Key Midfield Acquisitions in Rodri’s Absence
| Player | Arrived | Role | 2024-25 PL Goals | 2024-25 PL Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mateo Kovacic | 2023 | Rodri cover | 3 | 6 |
| Matheus Nunes | 2023 | Box-to-box support | 4 | 3 |
| Tijjani Reijnders | 2025 | New midfield partner | TBC | TBC |
| Nico González | 2025 | Squad depth | TBC | TBC |
| Rodri | 2019 | Anchor/DM | 0 (injured) | 0 (injured) |
What the Experts Say
Guardiola’s assessment on the day of the injury was unambiguous. “Rodri is irreplaceable and we will be there to support him in his recovery step-by-step. What he gives us, we don’t have a similar player.”
The broader coaching community agrees. His combination of traits, passing accuracy at elite volume, anticipatory defending, set-piece intelligence, and composure under pressure, does not appear in many players. Perhaps in no other current midfielder does it appear in quite this concentration.
What makes his case unique in the current Ballon d’Or era is the argument that a defensive midfielder, a player whose primary function is to enable others rather than score goals, could win football’s highest individual honor. The voters who chose Rodri over Vinícius Júnior in 2024 were making a statement: value what cannot easily be measured. Presence. Control. Architecture.
“Since his Premier League debut in August 2019, City have lost a third of league games without Rodri in the side. Their win rate is over 12 percentage points lower when he is missing compared to when he has appeared.” — Opta Analyst, September 2024
Frequently Asked Questions
What are Rodri’s career stats at Manchester City? Across all competitions from 2019 to 2026, Rodri has made more than 260 appearances, contributing over 45 goals and 50+ assists. He started more matches (50) than any other City player in 2023-24 and played the most minutes (4,325).
Why did Rodri win the 2024 Ballon d’Or? He made 63 appearances for club and country, winning four trophies including the Premier League and Euro 2024, scored 12 goals with 15 assists, and City remained unbeaten in every Premier League game he played.
How serious was Rodri’s ACL injury? Rodri underwent surgery for an ACL tear and meniscus damage in September 2024, and Guardiola confirmed he would miss the remainder of that season. He returned as a substitute in May 2025, eight months later.
Is Rodri back to his best in 2025-26? Not yet. He has experienced recurring setbacks including knee discomfort and a hamstring problem since returning, and Guardiola has urged caution throughout his rehabilitation. His 2025-26 PL rating of 7.47 is solid but below his Ballon d’Or peak.
What is Manchester City’s win rate without Rodri? City’s win rate drops from 74% with Rodri to 59% without him in Premier League matches since his arrival in 2019.
How does Rodri compare to other elite defensive midfielders? His 92.47% pass completion rate, combined with 26 interceptions and 57 key passes in a single season, puts him comfortably ahead of comparables in terms of combining defensive solidity with creative distribution.
