Rodri has been retained in City’s Champions League squad for the remainder of the season, but Guardiola says that does not mean he is likely to play again this season, even though the player has expressed hope of doing so.
Guardiola said: “I would love to arrive in the latter stages of the Champions League and Rodri could help us but I will not put one second of pressure (on him).
This has been widely interpreted as a response to an underwhelming first half of the season in which City have fallen behind in the Premier League title race and only just scraped into the Champions League play-offs.
Yet with a verdict expected in the coming months on the 115 charges City are facing over alleged breaches of the Premier League’s financial regulations, the club may also have been trying to limit the impact of any punishment.
City made their first serious moves in a winter transfer window since signing Aymeric Laporte in 2018 as they splashed out £170million on Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis and Nico Gonzalez before Monday’s deadline.
