“Gavi, Gavi, Gavi!” The teammates of the young midfielder, seriously injured for the rest of the season, received him this Tuesday in the locker room chanting his name, with words of encouragement in his ear, like those dedicated to him by one of the captains, Ter Stegen, and his good friend Pedri, and with heartfelt hugs, like that of coach Xavi Hernández. The emotional scenes showed a distressed Gavi on crutches. Very loved within the team for his youth (19 years), for his quality and for his dedication in each game, Gavi's ligament tear has been a tremendous blow to the Barcelona squad and causes a major problem for him. coaching staff. How to replace a top footballer? How to replace that “heart with legs”, as the Barcelona coach always describes him?
At this moment all the scenarios are open and a period of reflection has begun between the technical staff and the sports management, led by Deco. Last Sunday's injury is still very recent and the setback is still settling within the team and the club. Now, it is not lost on anyone that from now on one of the burning issues on the table will be the search for solutions to Gavi's absence. There is no need for Deco and Xavi, worried about what is coming, to make an official appointment to talk about the issue since they communicate practically daily in the sports city. It is common to see them chatting about the daily vicissitudes of the team. Xavi and Deco have three options on the table. The first, incorporate a footballer, and more so taking into account that the squad is already short. The second, make do with the midfielders they have. And the third, turn your sights to the subsidiary and raise a worthy player.
Logic indicates that Xavi's preferred option, suddenly, is to incorporate a player, if the club's economic circumstances (read financial fair play) allow it. If the coach already wanted one more interior in the summer and the club could not bring it to him, then without Gavi these needs multiply. With the change in regulations, a long-term injured person cannot be replaced until the winter market window opens in January. In the event of a serious injury, clubs that exceed financial fair play, such as Barça, can register a player who receives a maximum of 80% of the injured party's salary and only until the end of the season, that is, on loan. This is not the case because they do not occupy the same position but Barcelona, under these conditions, could not register Vitor Roque, because it is not a loan but rather a signing for several seasons. If the Brazilian forward arrives in winter it would be with other parameters. Nor has the decision yet been made on whether the interior is a higher priority than Vitor Roque, although everything indicates that it would be the case.
What Xavi and Deco are clear about is that Barça is not going to sign for the sake of signing. A minimum of sporting conditions, apart from economic ones, must be met to activate the incorporation button. In this sense, the footballer who currently complies more with the robot portrait than Xavi would want is that of Tottenham's Argentine Gio lo Celso.
He is 27 years old, has only participated in three games in the Premier, his contract ends in 2025 and he already knows the Spanish League. He played for Betis and spent a season and a half on loan from Tottenham at Villarreal. He therefore knows what it's like to go out on loan in search of more opportunities. In fact, the Blaugrana coach showed interest in his arrival last summer considering that he has a good footing.
Of course, at least until January Xavi will have to make do with the pieces he currently has. Between Oriol Romeu, Pedri, Fermín, Gündogan, who is playing everything, and Frenkie de Jong, who is expected to return on Saturday in Vallecas, they will have to try to cover the big hole left by Gavi.
The Dutchman returned to training on Monday although yesterday he was absent with permission from the club due to his imminent paternity.
From the reserve team, Marc Casadó usually works in first team dynamics and Aleix Garrido (19 years old) or Unai Hernández (18 years old) have trained under Xavi. Another option would be to pick up the loanee Pablo Torre, who has only played 119 minutes in the League with Girona.
