Rodri future, Trafford theory, Maresca start - City questions answered

Manchester City have announced a new deal for Phil Foden and welcomed Elliot Anderson to the Etihad with pre-season officially underway under Enzo Maresca. A number of young players have been given opportunities in training with so many senior stars resting after the World Cup, although more will be heading back in the next few days.

Rodri has created more uncertainty over his future this week and Leeds have jumped to the front of the queue to sign James Trafford as sporting director Hugo Viana looks to give Maresca the squad he needs to challenge on all fronts. There has been little movement in negotiations for Ayyoub Bouaddi and the Blues will know they will need to pick up the pace in the market.

There are plenty of questions to be answered on the transfer window and so much more, so we'll be hosting a weekly Q&A session with our chief City writer Simon Bajkowski. This is your chance to get an answer on anything you want - simply pop your question here and Simon will pick them all up and wrap everything up in one place.

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To get it, it's a simple one-two punch.

City's future in a post-Pep Guardiola world and uncertainty around Rodri and James Trafford are all touched on this week in the last week before the Blues head off on their pre-season tour.

Will Rodri be extending his contract or not? Ajusto Nyende

The biggest question of the week straight in from Ajusto, and the answer is that we do not know. However, it is fair to say that if Rodri was completely satisfied he would have signed one of the generous offers that have been put to him by City. He is allowed to take stock of his options, especially given he is once again on top of the football world and probably has one big contract in him given his age. A move to Real Madrid was appealing enough already but following Bernardo Silva there would bring extra benefit for a midfielder who has not played with any Real players all summer with Spain.

It's strange that all Premier League teams rotate their squads, to provide flexibility i.e. set up differently against different teams, provide rest for players, cover injuries, ensure competition within the squad etc. Why can't we do this for goalkeepers? Why must we have a named Number 1? For instance, why can't Donnarumma and Trafford share the number 1 jersey? We are going to lose an excellent goalkeeper in Trafford. If they shared the job throughout the season, they would have 19 Premier League games each and half of the cup and European games each. Why can't that work? We need two excellent goalkeepers, not just one. Peter O

Leeds moving for James Trafford has certainly put several cats among pigeons this week, but the goalkeeper was clear at the World Cup that to be pushing for England No.1 you have to be playing regularly at club level. It's an interesting point that Peter raises but goalkeepers thrive on routine and consistency and not knowing whether they would be in goal each coming week would not help them, and as an extension the defence and the whole team.

Ruben Dias once suggested that Guardiola's chopping and changing of centre-backs for games had made him better because he could not rely on the same skills every week, but there were also times when the former manager reverted to the perceived wisdom of a defensive pairing and the same goes for goalkeepers. The best defence usually wins the league, and it almost always includes three if not four players who feature nearly every week.

City arguably wouldn't have won two competitions last year without two strong goalkeepers so they need to find a high-quality replacement, but Trafford can't be blamed for wanting a move and City will make a significant profit on him.

Who has been impressed by Maresca? Alex

What is the future plan for Man City after Pep and Txiki left? Edward Samosir

I understand that it will be very hard to take over from Pep, but what will happen when people start calling for Maresca's head? I personally think that Maresca is on an absolute hiding to nothing. Stadium1

I've grouped these three questions together because they all concern City's uncertain future following Guardiola's departure. The future plan has been to keep on doing what the club have been good at for the last decade, and that is recruiting players and staff to take the team to the next level. City would argue they did that in the winter transfer window when they signed Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi, while Maresca is a Guardiola disciple with experience already of working at the club.

In terms of who has been impressed by Maresca, former captain Ilkay Gundogan spoke very highly of him and Foden and Rico Lewis have also gone on record with how good he has been with them. Anderson spoke to Chelsea players to get an idea about the Italian and the fact that Anderson has come and Jeremy Doku, Josko Gvardiol and Abdukodir Khusanov are all committing their futures to City would suggest that they are happy enough with both the manager and the direction of the club.

Please could you tell us who will be our starting right back? John Madey

Which "underperformer" (from last season) or player in general, do you think will thrive the most in Maresca's system? Dylan

Thanks for this question, Dylan - an interesting one and one where I get to come back in a few months and look magnificent or like a total idiot; my shout that Tijjani Reijnders could be the player to watch at the beginning of 2026 doesn't have many months to look half decent...I think the obvious place to turn is to Foden, who spoke this week about needing to repay the faith the club have shown in him with a new deal. Could the stability with Anderson and Rodri behind allow Foden to start showing his best again? Everyone at the club will hope so.

Nico Gonzalez is another who could surprise a few people if he stays and depending on how it all ends up with Rodri and Bouaddi. It's amazing to think he was the most indispensable player last season for a good few months before being ignored for basically the second half of the campaign.