Barcelona teenger Gavi at risk of similar burnout issues to Pedri

Barcelona’s squad has been stretched to the limit this season, through a combination of factors. Two players in particular have picked up the slack.

The Blaugrana are probably operating on a slightly shorter squad than they would normally, with the salary limit capping their ability to add depth. In the first partof the season, the defence was hit hard by injuries, as Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen and Hector Bellerin went down with problems.

In January, Barcelona let Bellerin and Memphis Depay go. In this second part of the campaign, midfield has been the area of concern, with Pedri and Frenkie de Jong missing a number of crucial games.

Gavi has taken on many of those minutes, and in fact only Robert Lewandowski and Marc-Andre ter Stegen have played more minutes than the teenager this season.

So far he has appeared in 41 games, racking up 2,951 minutes, as per Sport. In fact, Gavi has started all but three of Barcelona’s fixtures since the World Cup, only resting for a half against Ceuta in the Copa del Rey, and sitting out Valencia and Manchester United with suspensions.

It does raise questions again about Barcelona’s management of youngsters. While Gavi has so far shown a more robust physique than Pedri, the Canary Islander’s physical issues over the past two seasons should be more than enough warning against over-saturating Gavi’s body with football at this early stage.