This is a tough wake-up call for Barcelona supporters, but also for La Roja fans in general. Against Georgia on Sunday evening, what many club leaders and supporters happened: a big injury in a match, on paper, not necessarily very important. After Eduardo Camavinga or Vinicius Junior, it was Gavi who was the victim of this famous FIFA virus. And the Catalan will be absent even longer than the two Merengues, since it is a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament for the young Andalusian.
Obviously, this will completely shake up the rest of the FC Barcelona season. A major player in Xavi’s eyes, the Spanish international will leave a big void in the Catalan coach’s lineup. Will Barça recruit? We don’t know yet… Can he recruit? Not until January. The rule which allowed clubs to recruit and register a free player or player playing in the country to cover an injury – this was the case with Braitwhaite at the time for example – has been removed and Barça must therefore wait for the transfer window to open .
Barça will be limited
The club will also receive a nice check from FIFA, up to 5 million euros, which could well help the market. Another important point to note: Gavi’s injury will allow the club to be able to recruit without being conditioned by the financial fair play of La Liga, always complex and difficult to understand, even for managers. Barça, as explained Mundo Deportivo, is thus entitled to exceed its payroll set by La Liga by recruiting a player who, however, will only be able to receive 80%, maximum, of what Gavi receives in salary. The latter receives fairly low emoluments – 3.5 million euros per year according to various media – which will not leave the Catalans enormous room for maneuver.
Suffice to say that if FC Barcelona decides to recruit, it can give up on the arrival of a big name and it will have to turn to slightly more low-cost avenues, or young ones, like Gavi precisely. This injury could also call into question the arrival of a defensive midfielder, which was Xavi’s priority so far, while Oriol Romeu did not meet expectations. The Catalans could therefore give up on signing a 6 and turn to the transfer of another midfielder with a slightly more offensive profile to cover Gavi’s injury. It should also be noted that Xavi has interesting solutions internally, like the young Fermin Lopez, who could become more important in the rotation. To be continued…
