Five Barcelona stars who will miss US pre-season tour through injuries

Barcelona are set to travel to the United States of America for their pre-season tour later this week. The Blaugrana will play three games during the event including an El Clásico.

The upcoming tour in the US, needless to say, is a massive event for the team’s new manager Hansi Flick as he will get his first chance to see his tactics and dynamics in play.

While the German tactician has been overseeing training for close to two weeks now, he has been without several starting players.

While most who were on international duty will return in the coming days, five key players find themselves injured and will miss the tour to the United States.

Gavi

The heart of the team. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

There are not many players that can claim to be more vital to a functioning Barcelona setup than a fully fit Gavi. The young La Masia sensation’s rise in recent years has been meteoric, and understandably so given his visible passion and ‘never say never’ attitude on the field.

His ACL injury on international duty last season, thus, came as a massive blow for Barcelona. After undergoing surgery, the youngster has made significant progress towards a return, having begun working with the ball recently.

Given his current progress, Gavi is expected to return to the field in a limited capacity by October or November. His participation in the US tour, naturally, is out of the question.

Ronald Araujo

The captain will miss the US tour. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Barcelona captain Ronald Araujo suffered an injury on duty with the Uruguayan national team in the Copa America. Despite initial reports stating that he could return in two months, tests revealed a far more serious setback with the Uruguayan forced to undergo surgery.

Araujo is now expected to return in December and will miss the entire first half of the season. There are, in fact, reports that Barcelona may not even register Araujo with La Liga for the first half of the campaign to bring in a new name.

The Uruguayan, thus, will be unavailable for the tour later this month and will be focused on boosting his recovery.

Pedri

The magician must wait longer to return (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)

Toni Kroos’ rash tackle ended Pedri’s run in Euro 2024, handing him a grade-two sprain in his left knee. Sidelined for a relatively long period, his participation in the US tour is close to impossible.

The Spanish midfield phenom is working hard behind the scenes to bring forward the date of his return. Contradicting reports are coming forward as far as Pedri’s availability for the start of La Liga next month, but he is out of the US tour.

While Hansi Flick will not get a chance to work with Pedri over the next month, he will look to maintain a keen eye on the prodigy’s fitness and help him overcome his regular injury hiccups.

Frenkie de Jong

De Jong’s setback is going from bad to worse (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)

Frenkie de Jong’s case is a puzzling one, especially considering that the player’s injury was not supposed to be as serious as it has turned out.

Initially expected to make it in time for Euro 2024, the player was revealed to be out of Ronald Koeman’s plans after slow recovery. His participation in the team’s pre-season tour, at that time, appeared possible.

As revealed earlier this week, the player will certainly miss the team’s tour to the United States and is even, in fact, a doubt for the first game of the new season. Needless to say, there is significant concern over how the Dutchman’s injury has panned out.

Ansu Fati

Injured once more (Photo by Eric Alonso/Getty Images)

After an underwhelming spell in the Premier League, Ansu Fati returned to Catalonia determined to leave a strong impression on the manager in pre-season.

His start to life in training under Hansi Flick was promising, and word had it that he seriously impressed the new manager with his abilities.

In what comes as a huge blow to his pre-season, the youngster took a heavy blow to his foot yesterday and there is a possibility that a nerve is involved. He is, thus, expected to be out for three weeks.