Sport

Pep Guardiola confirms Manchester City star Rodri will be out for the season

A big blow to their hopes of defending their title.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 27th September 2024

Bad news for Manchester City fans as the club has now confirmed what everyone was dreading: Rodri will be out for the rest of the season.

Things didn’t look good when the Spaniard was substituted during last week’s game against Arsenal after colliding with fellow midfielder Thomas Partey during a corner and given that he hadn’t long come back from his previous injury, supporters were already fearing the worst.

Rodri has been a linchpin in the middle of the park for Man City ever since he joined back in 2019, going on to win the hallowed Treble and four Premier League title wins in a row, not to mention Euro 2024 – safe to say that even for all their quality, the team doesn’t tick over quite the same without him.

Breaking the news during his press conference ahead of City’s trip to Newcastle this weekend, when asked about the exact nature of the previously unconfirmed injury, manager Pep Guardiola simply shook his head and said: “Next season he will be here. This season is over [for him].

Speaking on Friday, 27 September, the Catalan coach explained, “He had surgery this morning, ACL and some meniscus” but sadly there looks to be no hope of his returning for the remainder of this campaign.

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Pep went on to add: “Unfortunately, he got the worst. It is what it is. We are here to support him – good recovery, step by step and move forward.

This comes after the seasoned CDM suffered a fairly serious hamstring injury during the Euros final which already saw him sidelined for the start of the 24/25 season and while City do have the likes of Gundogan and Kovacic to share those duties, it doesn’t get much worse than a cruciate ligament tear.

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Guardiola did insist that they have no other player quite like Rodri in their squad, no matter how healthily stocked, and that they will simply have to try and do their best “to find a way [to replace him]” with other talents in the team.

Even prior to the severity of the ligament injury being fully revealed, his national team and former clubs such as Villareal sent messages of support, with fans, players and everyone in football alike knowing how serious an ACL injury can be, especially for someone at this particular point in his career.

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As if player fitness and well-being weren’t already a pressing concern in recent times, it was only earlier this month that Rodri spoke about the ever-increasing number of games.

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In short, the number 16 says “It’s too much” and whether people see it as a sport or a business, someone needs to start looking after the “main characters”.

Fair to say with the overall average number of injuries jumping up each year and with incidents like this now having put an end to his season, he might have a point…

You can watch Pep’s pre-match press conference ahead of the match against Newcastle this Saturday down below:

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images – pantkiewicz (via Flickr)/Manchester City Youtube (via screenshot)

Sport

Gymshark is set to open its first Manchester shop at The Trafford Centre

Danny Jones Danny Jones gymshark opening first northern store in trafford centre manchester

Viral fitness brand Gymshark continues to go from strength to strength as they are now set to open a brand-new shop at The Trafford Centre next year.

One of the most well-known gym-wear brands on the planet right now, the company started by a student in the confines of his garage and bedroom back in 2012 is now opening just their third-ever brick-and-mortar location in the ever-busy shopping mall as their ‘IRL’ presence grows.

While it began as an online-only brand and will remain one of the most popular digital retailers for athletic apparel, with more than 10 million customers and a following of nearly double that amount on social media, it’s a pretty safe bet this store will be a welcome addition to The Trafford Centre.

Scheduled for a summer 2025 opening, this will be Gymshark‘s first location in the North so, naturally, they simply had to pick Manchester.

gymshark influencers
Gymshark Women is its own sub-brand.
gymshark opening first northern store
A glimpse at one of their two existing London locations.
(Credit: Supplied)

Set to open a 7,500-square-foot unit on Upper Peel Avenue, the new Gymshark site will become home to all of their high-quality activewear, featuring a vast range of sizes, colours and styles to suit all.

There is also set to be a number of exclusives available only at the Gymshark Trafford Centre.

Building on an already strong and long-standing relationship with the city – with Manchester hosting one of the first-ever community meet-ups in the city during their early days and greeting thousands of gymgoers to Manchester Central in 2023 at its first post-Covid event, Lift MCR – it’s a natural marriage.

Having also recently opened a small space in Selfridges in Trafford Centre to great acclaim, General Manager of Wholesale and Retail, Hannah Mercer, says: “We’re a Brummie brand, but we look to Manchester as something of a big brother with its heritage for graft, discipline and authenticity.

She goes on to add: “It’s why we’ve had so many wonderful moments in the city […] whenever we’ve landed here, it’s been incredible. We’ve also done so much in Manchester because we know how passionate the community here is about the gym and fitness […] In short, we love Manchester and can’t wait to open our doors to our Northern community next year.”

Viral sportswear brand Gymshark is holding a huge free fitness event in Manchester this weekend
They also held a bodybuilding competition here just a few months later.

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When taking into account their ever-growing workforce and group of influencers and/or sponsored athletes, not to mention they now reach a total of 230 countries, it’s fair to say this will be a very popular arrival to the nearby shopping complex.

Simon Layton, Centre Director at Trafford Centre, said of the announcement: “Gymshark is an impressive British success story with a global following, so we’re excited to welcome their first Northern, standalone store right here at Trafford Centre.

“With the activewear and athleisure market continuing to thrive, we’re confident that Gymshark will prove to be extremely popular with our visitors.”

As founder Ben Francis reiterates with every evolution of the company, “Gymshark isn’t a sports brand or an athleisure brand, it’s a gym brand. [It] prides itself on being the brand for creating the tools to help everyone achieve their very best in the gym, not just from the clothing it sells, but from the community it has built around it.”

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Gymshark press images (supplied)

Sport

Gary Neville says ‘a lot of questions’ need to be asked of Erik ten Hag and his players after ‘disgusting’ Man United performance

Danny Jones Danny Jones

Former Manchester United defender Gary Neville has called for serious questions to be asked of manager Erik ten Hag and his players after what he labelled an “absolutely disgusting” performance against Tottenham Hotspur.

The club legend turned pundit and entrepreneur was on co-comms for the Premier League meeting which ended up being a 3-0 rout by the visitors which included two goals barely moments into each half and one final blow that saw hordes of fans trudge out of Old Trafford in the 77th minute.

Some chaos thanks to a controversial red card shown to Bruno Fernandes saw the Reds play well over half the 90 with just 10 men, but very few excuses could be made for an all-around shambolic showing by the home team.

Gary Neville and Sky Sports delivered a lengthy post-match review as part of his podcast following the result, in which he said it was nothing short of “disgraceful” and that a serious investigation into the dressing room needs to take place – and soon.

The retired right-back began by referencing midfielder Christian Eriksen’s comments after the previous game in the Europa League where United could only muster a draw against FC Twente, especially as a senior figure who is inside the dressing room and has seen it all over a lengthy career.

“When he says that they don’t want it as much as another team in a game of football, that matters more than anything anyone else can say because he’s inside there, he’s seen with his own eyes. We know [the changing room] can’t be great because it transmits out onto the pitch”, began Neville.

The 49-year-old described it as “an absolutely disgusting performance in that first half, in effort, quality, everything you want in a football team […] That really was a nothing [game] and my heart sinks”, adding: “There are going to be a lot of questions to answer for that group and the manager in the next week

Going on to note that from a purely defensive point of view, the players don’t look like they even know when to trigger a press and simply let teams walk through them, particularly for the first goal, he summed it up as a “shocking day all-round, in terms of idea, plan, effort – in terms of everything.

You can see Neville’s full verdict on United‘s calamitous collapse – all 24 minutes and 36 seconds of it – vs Spurs down below.

We think it’s fair to say Gary Neville has A LOT of thoughts on ten Hag and United after that game too.

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Neville is just one of many ex-pros, be they United-affiliated or not, that came out to comment on the performance, with countless calling it simply “embarrassing”.

Fellow Sky Sports panellist Jamie Redknapp went so far as to say that the club had hit “rock bottom” and is now “going backwards” under ten Hag, as talk of him potentially getting the sack is now ramping up once again.

While many fans felt first official Chris Kavanagh did let the game get out of control and that the sending-off only added to the chaos, as Neville put it, “that’s only half the story” and the other half was that the team put in “their very worst possible showing.”

What do you reckon: how long does the Dutchman have to turn things around at the Theatre of Dreams or should Man United act now? You can see the highlights from the match down below.

For all the latest news, events and goings on in Greater Manchester, subscribe to The Manc newsletter HERE.

Featured Images — Sky Sports (via YouTube)/Wikimedia Commons

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