Barcelona have started their pre-season training under new manager Hansi Flick. After a trophyless 2023-24 season under Xavi Hernandez, they will be keen to get back to winning ways. Hence, pre-season is certainly an important part of their preparations for the upcoming season.
However, Flick will be without a number of players in the pre-season due to their respective injuries. These are some key players as well who suffered injuries last season or recently. As Flick trains with the team and looks to understand his squad, he will have to do so without 5 key players as of now. Let’s take a look at them:
Gavi
Gavi suffered a horrible knee injury while on international duty with Spain in November last year. He was diagnosed with an ACL injury and is expected to be out until November this year.
Gavi was a key player under Xavi and Barcelona will hope to have him back fit soon. He has made progress in his road to recovery as he started individual training with the ball this week.
Also Read: Barcelona will use emergency injury rule to register players this summer
Ronald Araujo
The Uruguayan defender’s future was under speculation before the end of last season and grew further this summer. However, he suffered a hamstring injury while competing at Copa America 2024 with Uruguay, where they finished third. He underwent surgery and is expected to be out until December.
Given his injury, it’s unlikely any club would pay a huge sum to sign him this summer.
Frenkie de Jong
The Dutchman is another player who got injured last season itself. He was dealing with an ankle injury towards the end of last season. As per the Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman, Barcelona weren’t careful with De Jong’s injury. This led to him aggravating his injury and missing the UEFA Euro 2024.
Hansi Flick, meanwhile, recently said that he cannot wait to have De Jong back in action, saying via Everything Barca:
“Frenkie is a fantastic player. He has proven this when he was physically fit. He’s recovering now, and let’s hope he comes back soon.”
De Jong is expected to return to action sometime in August.
Pedri
Pedri suffered a knee injury in the Euro 2024 quarter-final against Germany after a tackle from Toni Kroos. He was subbed off and is expected to remain out until the end of August or mid-September.
Ansu Fati
Ansu Fati, who was given the iconic Lionel Messi’s No. 10 shirt, has failed to live up to expectations. He has been marred by injuries. He returned this summer from his loan spell at Brighton & Hove Albion, but has now suffered another foot injury. He is expected to be out until the first week of August at the very least.
Also Read: Xavi Hernandez is criticised following his comment about Barcelona’s rivalry with Real Madrid