Barcelona plunged further into crisis as forward suffers serious knee injury

Barcelona’s awful summer

FC Barcelona have had a very tricky summer, losing Antoine Griezmann, Miralem Pjanic and Emerson Royal this summer.

In addition, Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets all took wage cuts in order to allow new signings to be registered for the 2021/22 season, with the club in huge financial trouble.

The biggest blow, however, came in the form of the loss of Lionel Messi, who the club could not register due to salary cap restrictions in the Spanish league. As a result, the Argentine, widely considered the greatest footballer of all time, departed the club he had played for since he was a child, joining Paris Saint Germain on a free transfer.

This left the club with just Martin Braithwaite, Luuk de Jong, Yusuf Demir and Memphis Depay as fit options in their forward line for the season.

Further insult to injury as Braithwaite ruled out

Now, Barca have suffered further pain as Martin Braithwaite has reportedly limped out of training with a knee injury. He was allegedly looking to make himself fit for their upcoming Champions League tie with Bayern Munich, but in doing so further injured his knee, as per Spanish reports.

According to the reliable Spanish reporter Gerard Romero, the forward is now expected to miss 3-4 months of the season as a result.

This adds to the injury woes the club already have, with Ansu Fati and Ousmane Dembele already on the treatment table and not expected back within the next month. Can Barca mount a serious title challenge with their threadbare forward line?