For FC Barcelona, every season is an opportunity to start from scratch and aim for the highest aspirations possible. Given the stature and prestige of the Catalan club, it is only natural that the objectives are just as grand and big. However, almost every season in recent memory, Barcelona have been plagued by a certain hurdle.
Injuries, both big and small, have been constant hindrances to the club as they aim to compete for titles and massive honors. Unfortunately, no matter what the club tried in terms of preparation or physical fitness, it always felt like it was a recurring cycle of untimely injuries that left the team stranded in important stretches of the season.
Ultimately, perhaps no player understands the consequences of these injuries better than young Pedri Gonzalez. Aged 21, and already a Golden Boy and Kopa Trophy winner, the young Barcelona midfielder has already had to suffer through several muscular injuries that have plagued his consistency.
This season, however, things look to have changed for the better so far. Even when faced with some gruesome challenges, the player no longer remains on the ground and worried about needing a substitute. Instead, he continues to carry on and is showing a much more strengthened version of himself than ever before.
The secret behind this sudden improvement in terms of his physicality and injury prevention is the work that Barcelona has done on him across this recent summer. As highlighted by Mundo Deportivo, Barça made sure to conduct a genetic analysis of the player’s muscle fibers at a renowned laboratory based in Baltimore, USA.
That specific analysis and the tests conducted as a part of it ended up suggesting with their results that Pedri needs to focus on daily strength training, and that piece of advice was taken to heart by Barcelona. Consequently, the team’s physical trainer, Julio Tous, has even created a specific plan for the young midfielder to flourish going forward.
Considered a key player for the club, Barça want to take no chances with Pedri at all. That is why even during his vacations following the European Championship, the player was sent a trusted member of Tous’s team to continue helping him in his recovery and the training he did.
Even after being injured by former Real Madrid player Toni Kroos during the Euros, something that the German midfielder even sent out an apology for, the Barcelona star did not stop his muscular development and progression. This involvement and analysis from Barça and Julio Tous has proven to be the key factor in allowing the youngster to reform his best version again.
Interestingly, it was Pedri himself who reached out to the club to help him overcome these injury problems once and for all. Knowing the talent and ceiling he possesses, the club did not hesitate to devote their resources into making sure that the 21-year-old Spanish midfielder did not end up wasting his quality due to these untimely injuries.
So far this season, he has shown exactly why the club wants to continue putting their faith in him. In each game, he controls the tempo of the match and allows his teammates to perform at their best possible level. Beyond just being one of the faces for the future of Barcelona, he is also the present of the team when it comes to dominating games and needing his versatility.