Being a Ballon d’Or doesn’t protect you from anything. Neither a sudden breakup with your club, nor a contractual divorce when the numbers no longer add up. The prestige of football’s most prestigious individual trophy is not always enough to guarantee your future. Especially when you have multiple visits to the infirmary and your salary requirements remain unchanged. And in fact, a concrete case perfectly illustrates this reality. A Ballon d’Or winner is currently in this situation. Negotiations for his contract extension are slipping. His club’s management has already started to identify replacements.
The player in question is Rodri. The Manchester City defensive midfielder, crowned Ballon d’Or 2024, may not continue at the Etihad. According to SportsBoom, City leaders have opened discussions with the Spaniard for a contract extension. Rodri is under contract until 2027, but the club wants to shield him to prevent him from entering his last year of contract with ideas elsewhere. Pep Guardiola still considers the 29-year-old midfielder a pillar of his system and does not want to see him leave. But a doubt remains: can Rodri return to the level that earned him the Ballon d’Or before his knee injury?
Manchester City prepares for post-Rodri
Manchester City are not taking risks. If negotiations fail, the club has already drawn up a list of potential replacements. Three names emerge. Said El Mala, young German prodigy from FC Cologne, impresses in the Bundesliga and is closely watched. Morten Hjulmand, midfielder of Sporting Portugal, and Aleksander Pavlovic, of Bayern Munich, are also in the viewfinder. City are preparing for the possibility of life without Rodri. A hypothesis that seemed unthinkable just a year ago, but which repeated injuries now make plausible.
Rodri has been a pillar of City’s success in recent years. Four consecutive Premier League titles, a Euro 2024 with Spain, the Ballon d’Or as a reward. But last season, City foundered when Rodri missed almost the entire campaign with a knee injury (cruciate ligaments and meniscus). Only three appearances. This season, the Spaniard was gradually returning to his best before a hamstring injury sent him to the infirmary. These repeated visits to the infirmary raise a question: can he still hold the house?
Being a Ballon d’Or does not protect you. If salary requirements remain high and the body no longer keeps up, even the greatest can find themselves out. Rodri learns this the hard way. City remains confident of an extension, but the club is no longer betting everything on him. SportsBoom’s sources indicate that management wants to secure its future, with or without the Spaniard. A pragmatic philosophy which reminds us that in modern football, no one is irreplaceable. Even a Ballon d’Or.
