FC Barcelona Makes Gavi Return Decision Amid Lengthy Pedri Injury

FC Barcelona has made a decision on Gavi’s return from injury amid his teammate and close friend Pedri being ruled out for a month according to SPORT, which cited anonymous sources.

Wednesday’s 4-2 win against Slavia Prague in the Champions League was a step in the right direction for Hansi Flick’s men, as per perhaps not needing to contest a playoff for knockout phase qualification.

It was bittersweet, however, with Pedri’s fall to the ground around the hour mark resulting in him being absent for a month.

Tests in Barcelona later confirmed that the midfielder has suffered a right hamstring knock, which means he’ll miss Wednesday’s last league phase fixture against FC Copenhagen at the Spotify Camp Nou, in addition to a potential two-legged play off tie and important La Liga clashes.

With Barca in no position financially to bring in a centre-of-the-park reinforcement from the market, stand-ins to partner Frenkie de Jong – suspended against the Danes – will have to be deployed in-house.

Even in light of that, though, Gavi won’t be rushed back from his own time on the sidelines according to the mentioned Catalan paper.

FC Barcelona stars Gavi and Pedri should both return in March

Suffering an injury to the same right knee that caused him an ACL injury in late 2023, Gavi underwent surgery in late September, in what came as a huge blow to the youngster and Hansi Flick after the current season had barely gotten underway.

By the time Pedri has been out for a month, it will be five since Gavi last graced the pitch in a competitive capacity.

Even though there are shortages in that area of the pitch, however, Barca won’t rush either player back and instead wants them fit for the business end of the season which will hopefully entail Champions League knockout ties and Barca honing in on the successful defences of its La Liga and Copa del Rey crowns.

Furthermore, there is Spain’s Finalissima duel against Lionel Messi’s Argentina to think about in March for both men, as well as staying fit to make Luis de la Fuente’s World Cup squad.

How will FC Barcelona line up in midfield without Gavi and Pedri

Though he has proven capable of playing both central positions in midfield, Gavi is usually a direct contender with Fermin Lopez and Dani Olmo for the CAM role.

At present, this week’s Champions League MVP Fermin is “undroppable”, while Olmo has been making impressive cameos off the bench and scoring decisive clutch goals since December.

If Flick wants to go for a more attacking approach against Copenhagen and for the next month or so, he might put Olmo by De Jong’s side in Pedri’s usual slot while Fermin remains more advanced.

On the other hand, a safer, more defensive bet sees Eric Garcia, Marc Bernal or Marc Casado form a duo with the Dutchman.

Starting with FC Barcelona’s Sunday hosting of Real Oviedo at the Camp Nou, we’ll learn what Flick’s solutions might be for his dilemma.