Manchester City plan to manage midfielder Rodri's return from injury with regular but limited playing time, manager Pep Guardiola said ahead of Saturday's Premier League opener at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The anticipated return of Ballon d'Or winner Rodri, who missed almost the entire 2024-2025 season after suffering an ACL injury, has lifted City fans as they look to bury memories of last season's disappointment.
City finished third in the league, ending the campaign without a trophy for the first time since 2016-17.
Guardiola confirmed Rodri will travel to Wolverhampton, but defender Josko Gvardiol, midfielder Mateo Kovacic and winger Savinho are sidelined with injury, while goalkeeper Ederson is also out amid reports linking him with a move away.
"Rodri is so soon to come back, and importantly, his knee is perfect. He played Juventus (at the Club World Cup in June) and then had to be out with injury for six weeks. We'll try to avoid that," Guardiola told reporters on Friday.
"Now he needs to bring in the minutes in training sessions and especially a few minutes in the games. Because what we want for him is not to come back and step back and come back and step back again... That would not be good.
"In this dynamic you can't get rhythm. And the competition? It is so demanding. He has had good training and tomorrow he's travelling. We will decide how many minutes. If not, then hopefully he can play minutes in next games."
City are without Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker, who joined Napoli and Burnley respectively after their contracts expired, while Jack Grealish was loaned to Everton after falling out of favour with Guardiola.
Brazilians Ederson and Savinho have been linked with transfers, though Guardiola said the goalkeeper, whose contract expires next year, has not asked to leave.
"I don't know how many (will leave) but I know the market in Saudi Arabia runs a little bit longer... All the managers like to work with the right number of players because they deserve to play all the players," Guardiola said.
"If any club want a player (they) should call the club, like we do... The only thing I'm concerned about today is that Savinho will be with us ... hopefully for many, many years, at 21-years-old with the potential he has.
"But at the end, as always, the desire of the player prevails above everything, and after that there has to be an agreement with the club."