Barcelona have made three signings this summer in Joan Garcia, Roony Bardghji and Marcus Rashford, and on top of this, they will welcome back Marc Bernal. The 18-year-old midfielder was a revelation in the early stages of last season before he suffered an ACL injury – which he is still coming back from.
Bernal has made the trip to Japan and South Korea for Barcelona’s pre-season tour, although he is not expected to play any minutes in any of the planned matches. Hansi Flick, who is counting on the teenager to be a very important player during the upcoming season, will not take any risks with his recovery.
As per MD, the plan with Bernal is for him to possibly be involved in the Joan Gamper Trophy, which takes place a week before the new season starts – although again, he will not be forced to play as this is the club’s most confident outlook on the matter.
Barcelona have fixture in mind for Bernal’s return
Even if Bernal plays against Como in the Joan Gamper Trophy, the plan would not be for him to play any competitive matches before the first international break of the season in September. The current idea is for his return to be against Valencia on MD4, which is also Barcelona’s first home fixture of the campaign.
If that is the case, it would mean that Bernal, who recently gave an update on his recovery, would be out of action for over a year, given that he suffered the ACL injury against Rayo Vallecano last August. Barcelona can afford to take things slow with the teenager, given that they have Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Marc Casado, Gavi and Eric Garcia as players to play in the two defensive midfield positions in Flick’s system.
