With Pau Cubarsi’s giant leap from Barcelona Atletic to the first team, Xavi has found another highly reliable center-back who has contributed significantly to improving the defensive record of the team this season.
He is now a first-team player for all intents and purposes, but luckily, his absence from Rafa Marquez’s team is not being felt too keenly, mainly because Mikayil Faye and Mamadou Ibra Mbacke Fall have kept the subsidiary team’s defense solid even without Cubarsi.
However, things are getting dire now for the Barcelona Atletic, as Mbacke suffered a serious injury in the match against Lugo, which initially did not look to be serious, but detailed tests showed that he had torn the internal lateral ligament of his left ankle, which will force him to undergo surgery and thus miss the rest of the games this season.
Thus, as SPORT has noted, Mbacke’s future at the club is highly uncertain, as he is currently at Barcelona only on a loan from Los Angeles, and may have played his last-ever game for the Catalans unless the Bluugranes exercise the €4 million purchase option in his contract.
Prior to that injury, Mbacke had been performing at a high level for Rafa Marquez’s team and had played up to 1758 minutes this season. He adapted to the team quite quickly after having arrived from the USA and has scored two goals and given one assist in his 22 games at the club.
Furthermore, Xavi was also keeping a close eye on the defender and had also called him up for several training sessions in the last few weeks. This latest ankle injury will thus be a particularly hard blow for the Senegalese as he would have been looking to impress the Barcelona head coach in the coming few days.
However, the overbooking of center-backs in the first team would still have made it almost impossible for Mbacke to make the jump to Xavi’s team. For now, he will return to his parent club at the end of the season, and it remains to be seen whether Barcelona will exercise the purchase option to keep him permanently at the club.