Barcelona will follow ‘zero risk’ policy with all injured players – report

Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez has some serious hurdles to deal with early into the 2023/24 campaign. Just four games into the new season, he already finds himself without the likes of Pedri and Ronald Araujo through injury.

The young duo are rightly considered the backbone of the Barcelona setup. After all, the Canary Islander offers the team the X-factor in the middle of the park while the Uruguayan serves as the leader of their backline.

According to reports from Gabriel Sans, Barcelona will not rush any injured players from here on into a premature return. They plan to follow a new zero-risk policy with players of both the first team and Barça Atletic.

Both Pedri and Araujo will thus feature only once they are back at their best physical level, and the same applies to the young Angel Alarcon. The club do not wish to risk any relapse.

Pedri’s poor injury record

Pedri may be Barcelona’s most vital player on the field, but it is safe to say that he has struggled to find any form of consistency in the fitness aspect. The Spaniard’s injury record in recent seasons has been woeful.

Strangely enough, the 20-year-old has often suffered ailments of only his hamstring muscles through his three seasons at the club.

Pedri first missed 11 days of action through a hamstring injury in the 2021-22 season before suffering the same injury two more times in the same campaign. All in all, he missed 190 days of action that year.

Last season, he was forced to sit out 46 days and four games through another hamstring blow. His latest blow once again presents a similar diagnosis.

Araujo will be back soon

While Pedri could face up to a month out of action, there is positive news around Ronald Araujo.

The Uruguayan star’s recovery has been progressing on track and he could, in theory, return as early as next week.

Considering Barcelona’s new zero-risk policy, however, it remains to be seen how long Xavi opts to keep the player out of action.

As for Alarcon, the 19-year-old forward has resumed training with Barça Atletic already and could soon get minutes under Rafa Marquez, potentially paving the way for him to return to the first-team dynamics.