Barcelona ambitions take huge hit after inauspicious injury
Barcelona confirmed the Uruguayan is likely to miss the rest of the season following his knee surgery.
The bad news does not stop for Barcelona as the club released a statement confirming that Luis Suarez is set to be out four months after undergoing knee surgery.
It is a big blow to a team who does not have a back-up for Suarez and for a player who was having a decent season so far.
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News broke a few days ago that Suarez was considering surgery in order to be ready for their Champions League run.
Initially, it was speculated that he would only miss six weeks of action.
Mundo Deportivo report that his knee injury flared up in the derby against Espanyol and only got worse in the match against Atletico Madrid.
Diario Sport report that the extent of the injury wasn’t fully known until he was undergoing the surgery.
New complications meant that his recovery time was going to be a minimum of four months rather than the six weeks.
What this means for Barcelona is they may now be forced to go into the transfer marker for a short-term replacement.
Last season, they went out and got Kevin-Prince Boateng on loan. Boatent barely played at all and it’s fair to say his signing was a bust.
They now find themselves in a worse situation than before. Boateng was brought to provide rest for Suarez. Whoever they bring in, if they bring anyone at all, is going to need to be someone who will actually play and has the level to play for Barcelona.
If they don’t sign someone, Ansu Fati and Carles Perez will have a more prominent role. One of these two will accompany Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann in the attack with the Frenchman likely to be deployed as the centre-forward.
The status of Ousmane Dembélé is still unknown in terms of when he will be ready to come back. Barcelona hoped to get him back by February but he is still going to need to regain match fitness.
The injury to Luis Suarez hurts Barcelona in a lot of ways but they are to blame because everyone, including Suarez himself, have long said that it was time to find a replacement.
They failed to do so and are now scrambling trying to find the correct course of action.
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With the situation surrounding Ernesto Valverde, the results on the pitch and now the Suarez news, the club finds itself in a crisis. A crisis of their own doing and one that will not be easy to climb out of.