Manchester City boss Guardiola confirms Rodri injury setback and comeback plan

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has omitted the Spain international from his squad for the pre-season friendly against Palermo this weekend as he continues to recover from injury

Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City will be without a fully fit Rodri until mid-September.

The Spain star suffered a groin problem during the FIFA Club World Cup against Al-Hilal in the last 16. The Ballon d’Or winner, 29, has largely been doing individual work away from the first team since City’s players returned from their summer break last week.

He has taken part in two full sessions this week but was not included in the squad to travel to Palermo for a friendly this weekend, won’t play at Wolves on the opening day of the season and - while he could feature against Spurs and Brighton - will be wrapped in cotton wool until the season’s first international break.

"Rodri is getting better but he had a big injury in the last game against Al Hilal,” said Guardiola. “He has trained better in the last few days, hopefully after the international break is when he will be really fit.

"Hopefully in these games he can play some minutes but what is important is he doesn't have pain because we don't want this Rodri coming back injured.

"We try desperately to avoid that. He has been training the last two sessions with us and that's good."

Rodri is among four players left behind to avoid fitness risks. England international Phil Foden, Josko Gvardiol and youngster Claudio Echeverri are all not fully fit and thus haven't travelled.

Foden and Gvardiol will both be aiming to start against Wolves at Molineux next Saturday, while Echeverri's future remains uncertain amid loan interest and an excess of non-homegrown players for City to include in their Champions League squad.