Pedri misses over 300 days in two seasons with Barcelona

Ever since Barcelona and the Spain national team pushed him hard in the 2020-21 season, where in addition to playing 52 games for the Catalan club he participated in the European Championship and the Tokyo Games at just 18 years of age, Pedri has been a player with injury problems.

Fundamental for Xavi and for the future of Luis de la Fuente’s Spain team, the best news coming from Barça’s return to work on Monday was to see Pedri back smiling in training alongside Raphinha and Ronald Araújo.

Pedri played his last game on 14 May against Espanyol at Cornellà, but the creator from the Canaries, who had injured his right hamstring in the first leg of the Europa League round of 16 playoff against Manchester United, broke down again. Xavi, because of the player’s history, did not want to push his midfielder more and he did not play again for the rest of the season and didn’t travel with the national team to the Nations League.

Pedri out for over 300 days

Barça convinced the Spanish FA that the player needed to rest. Since the end of the 2020-21 campaign Pedri has been out for 307 days with muscular injuries in both legs and has missed 48 matches, too many for such a young player, although he himself has denied on several occasions that these mishaps have anything to do with the excesses of his first season.

Pedri’s responsibility grows

Pedri is not just another player for Barça. On the pitch, he is a key part of what Xavi wants to do. The departure of Sergio Busquets will add responsibility to Pedri’s role. Next season he will be seen in some matches a little deeper. Club president Joan Laporta considers him the club’s franchise player and with a contract until 2026, Barça will do everything they can to prevent their star player from suffering more setbacks.