Barcelona suspect knee issue hindering Gavi

Barcelona are hoping that Gavi’s injury issues will clear up in the coming weeks without having to undergo any treatment. The 21-year-old missed Barcelona’s last game through a knee injury, and is expected to be kept out longer.

Gavi’s absence against Rayo Vallecano was felt by Barcelona, and he withdrew from the Spain squad as a precautionary measure. It had been hoped that he would be back in action this weekend against Valencia, but that no longer seems likely, with his discomfort continuing.

While Gavi’s pain is in the same knee where he issued his cruciate ligament last year, Sport insist that the ligament itself is showing no signs of damage. They say that Barcelona suspect that the issue is related to his meniscus, and today he is undergoing thorough testing on the area to try and identify the issue more precisely.

The hope at Barcelona is that they can avoid surgery if at all possible. MD say that the plan is to give Gavi time to recover through rest, and hope that the pain clears up. Only if that does not resolve the issue after a few more weeks will Barcelona consider an arthroscopy, following on from reports that it would be one of the next steps.

Barcelona were careful to ease Gavi back into the fold last season, and he missed just two games after coming back from his knee problem in October  – one of those was due to a cruciate ligament injury. He was called up to the Spain squad for the Nations League final four following some promising performances in the final stretch of the season. Gavi is expected to play in a deeper role this season alongside Frenkie de Jong or Pedri, having been used further forward by Xavi Hernandez.