It feels like ages since Barcelona beat Rayo Vallecano 2-1 considering everything that has happened since. Dani Olmo’s incredible debut for the club has been overshadowed by the injury that Marc Bernal suffered.
The 17-year-old was confirmed to have torn the ACL on his left knee and the meniscus to go along with it. It was an absolute shame for the La Masia prodigy who had just started to find his feet in the Barcelona first team.
In the immediate future, it is a huge blow to Hansi Flick’s team with the squad lacking another natural pivot. Barcelona could now find themselves in a fix just like they did last season when they had to play without a positional pivot in the #6 role.
As per SPORT, Barcelona have decided to show faith in the youngster and as a gesture to boost his morale, the club is set to extend his contract that would tie him down to the club until 2029.
It’s the club’s way of telling the player, ‘Recover properly and come back, the team is waiting for you’. After such a serious injury, the morale is expected to be down but this should make Bernal feel much better.
Despite having spent just a few weeks with Barcelona in the first-team, Bernal has already impressed one and all with his performances. The 17-year-old thoroughly deserves this potential contract extension.
The only silver lining from this injury is that Barcelona can take solace from the fact that Bernal is still very young. He will be missing out on football for at least one more year but one could only hope that he returns stronger than ever.
Bernal is Barcelona’s future for the defensive midfield position. The 17-year-old must recover properly from this injury without any complications and once he comes back, Hansi Flick & co. will have a plan to work him back into the set-up. Let’s wait and see how his recovery goes.
