Marc Bernal, the surprise at Hansi Flick’s Barcelona at the start of the campaign, is out for the season. The 17-year-old has a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and also has an injury to the external meniscus. Bernal, according to the Catalan club, will undergo surgery in the next few days. A new problem for Flick who had found in the midfielder’s football the solution to a difficult dilemma to resolve: the pivot position. In the sporting department of Barcelona they are working on finding an alternative, evidently limited by the club’s economic difficulties, with no room for financial fair play.
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“It looks bad,” warned Hansi Flick, after passing through the Vallecas dressing room after Barcelona came back in the match against Rayo. The coach, from the start, saw that the injury of the youth player could be serious. As soon as the match ended, the coach crossed the entire field to speak with Bernal. The doctors, then, were not optimistic. “The victory is a sad victory, because Marc Bernal is injured. Tomorrow we will know after the tests,” concluded the Barça coach. A sadness that continued in Barcelona’s expedition in Madrid. This Wednesday morning it was confirmed that Bernal will be out for between eight and 10 months, an injury similar to the one suffered by Gavi (20 years old) last November during a match with the Spanish national team.
It was then that, faced with Gavi’s long-term injury, the club’s sports department decided to speed up the signing of a player with a low salary like Vitor Roque. The Brazilian striker did not adapt and went on loan to Betis. Now Barcelona is back at the same crossroads, needing to replace the player with a reserve team card, but it does not have the resources.
And he has none for a key position for the Barcelona team, not one Sergio Busquets. Since his appearance with Pep Guardiola in the 2008-2009 season, Barcelona first looked for an alternative and then a replacement for the current Inter Miami player.
But this summer Bernal appeared. In pre-season, Barcelona’s sporting director Deco spoke to Flick about the possibility of bringing in a pivot, after Oriol Romeu’s continuity was ruled out. The German coach did not want any signings. “Frenkie is here,” he said. [De Jong] and Bernal,” he replied. And while De Jong is recovering from his ankle problem – “He has not yet gained confidence,” Barcelona doctors say about the Dutchman’s injury – Bernal has gained strength in the first team.
“He is not afraid,” commented Barcelona’s coaches, regarding Bernal’s appearance. In the Gamper Trophy, for example, the youth player made a mistake that ended in one of Monaco’s goals. “It had to happen to me one day, better if it happens in a friendly,” he commented to those close to him.
Boosted by Rafa Márquez in the reserves last season, Pep Guardiola surrendered to the last appearance at La Masia. “Marc Bernal seemed extraordinary to me, the way he controls, the way he plays,” said the City manager. It was no coincidence that Márquez was chosen, nor was Guardiola’s praise, two experts in the pivot position. And Flick believed in Bernal’s potential.
Without De Jong and with Bernal out for the season, Barcelona is left without Hansi Flick’s pivots. Work for Deco who does not have fair play while waiting for Joan Laporta to resolve the network of levers or agree the new contract with Nike.
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