Loan watch: Barcelona starlet suffers knee injury in pre-season friendly

According to Esport 3, Barcelona loanee starlet Pablo Torre injured his knee in Girona’s recent pre-season friendly game and was immediately taken off the field.

No news of the severity of the injury has been revealed by the Girona management thus far.

The latest victim of Barcelona’s loan curse

Over the past few seasons, Barcelona have sent several academy stars and young prospects on loan to teams across Europe in the hope of them accumulating experience under their belt.

Yet, such players have often succumbed to prolonged injuries early in their spells.

In the 2022-23 season, Alex Collado missed 86 days and 11 games for Elche during his spell on loan at the La Liga side.

Nico Gonzalez suffered a similar fate in Valencia, as a metatarsal fracture in January ruled him out for 59 days and 12 games last season, and Torre is thus the latest entrant on the list.

The midfield prodigy joined Girona on a season-long loan earlier this month. He scored in his third pre-season appearance for the Spanish club and was just making inroads into the starting lineup when the untimely injury happened.

Torre went down in pain in the seventh minute and was taken off six minutes later in Girona’s friendly match against Blackburn Rovers, and one hopes that his recovery period is not prolonged.

The youngster’s chance to make a mark

With names like Pedri, Gavi, Frenkie de Jong, and Ilkay Gundogan in midfield, it is not difficult to see why Xavi Hernandez opted to send Torre out on loan.

The club believe in his potential, but the manager simply has no bandwidth to provide him with adequate game time.

Last season, Torre struggled for minutes at Barcelona and a spell at Girona was thus seen as his chance to make a mark.

The Spaniard’s new employers have no purchase clause on the youngster, and a successful spell on loan would almost guarantee him a place in Xavi’s plans.

With the injury now playing spoilsport, it remains to be seen how Torre bounces back.