Earlier this week, Barcelona confirmed that Gavi would be out of action for the next 4-5 months following surgery on his knee. The long-term absence of the midfielder is a huge blow for the Catalans, and it weakens an area where there was already concerns about whether there is enough depth.
Prior to confirmation of Gavi’s injury, Barcelona had him, Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Marc Casado and Marc Bernal as options in the defensive midfield position, although the latter is not being considered to start matches for another several weeks yet, as he works his way back from his own long-term absence.
In essence, it means that Hansi Flick has Pedri, de Jong and Casado as his pivots for a gruelling schedule over the coming weeks, which is far from ideal. As such, it has been noted that Barcelona could seek an immediate replacement for Gavi in the transfer market.
However, Marca have reported that Barcelona have no plans to sign a Gavi replacement, as both the club and Flick do not want to sign for the sake of signing, with the belief also being that there are no good candidates in the free agent market.
While Barcelona wait for Bernal to get back to 100% match sharpness, Flick could look to Eric Garcia as a temporary fix in the defensive midfield area. The defender covered in this position on multiple occasions last season, so he could be looked to again – especially as Jules Kounde appears to have taken back the right-back spot, while Pau Cubarsi, Ronald Araujo and Andreas Christensen can cover in central defence.
It remains to be seen how Flick manages the situation in the coming weeks, but it is certainly not ideal that Gavi is out for a significant period of time.
Moseskhalid
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