Simon Stone, chief football news reporter
The images of Rodri out on the first-team training pitches, running, turning and kicking the ball, will gladden the heart of every Manchester City fan.
Even the sun came out.
Manager Pep Guardiola has played down talk of an imminent return to action and evidently, there is a long way to go before Rodri actually plays a proper game again.
However, with nearly three months of the domestic season left, there has to be a chance Rodri will play some part – and that should mean he is available for the Club World Cup in the USA in June.
That is really important because Guardiola’s squad will have next to no preparation time for the 2025-26 campaign and, as they have discovered this season, without Rodri, they are just not the same team.
