Barcelona midfielder Pedri sidelined with injury

Barcelona were dealt an injury blow this morning when it was confirmed that star midfielder Pedri suffered a thigh injury in training, and is set for a period on the sidelines.

The official club posted a very short and sweet update stating: “Pedri has a right quadriceps injury. He is unavailable for selection and his recovery will determine his return.”

According to a follow-up report in SPORT, Pedri may miss around a month of the season. Fortunately for Barcelona, a portion of that will be the upcoming international break.

Pedri has experienced issues with his quadriceps historically and Barcelona were working to manage his load in order to prevent a reoccurrence, unfortunately, that didn’t work.

SPORT speculate that the midfielder could miss more than 6 weeks of the season, which would sideline him until the middle of October, or 7-8 key league games.

Who will replace the injured Pedri in the starting lineup?

Pedri proved the difference last Sunday with his late goal putting Barcelona in front against a stubborn Cadiz. But Barca manager Xavi will now need to shift the pack a little bit.

He could elect to slot Gavi straight into Pedri’s place, although he’s also been experiencing some injury issues and has only played a handful of minutes so far.

Instead of electing to play a central midfielder on the left wing, Xavi could elect to play Abde there to give Barcelona some much-needed width, Ansu Fati and Lamine Yamal are also candidates to fill in long-term.

This would allow Gundogan to push further upfield with Frenkie de Jong and Oriol Romeu providing defensive cover.

Ferran Torres who also scored against Cadiz has also been tipped to start this Sunday, but that would hopefully be as an out-and-out striker, which is a position he’s excelled in so far this summer.

It’ll be interesting to see what Xavi does, we have some more thoughts in our Villareal preview post.