As the debate around the football calendar and player welfare continues, one of the footballers most vocal on the issue is now set to be out for several months.

Rodri picked up the knee injury against Arsenal in an ill-tempered match between the title rivals on Sunday and has since been in Spain to get his condition assessed.

While this injury came from an innocuous collision, the midfielder recently suggested players were “close” to going on strike in protest at the increase in games following changes to European competitions and the Club World Cup.

Spain international Rodri featured 63 times for club and country last season, on the way to winning the Premier League and European Championship within the space of two months.

According to a recent Fifpro report on player workload, Rodri was included in 72 matchday squads for club and country, including pre-season friendlies, between July 2023 and July 2024 – totalling 6,107 minutes on the pitch.

The graph above shows how the workload was spread across the 12 months for the Ballon d’Or nominee, with just the two rest periods.

Compared to Premier League players across all competitions last season, according to Opta, Rodri’s 50 games was four fewer than those who played most.

He was joint second for games started, one behind Andre Onana, and eighth for the number of minutes played.