Bad news for FC Barcelona. Once again, the dreaded 'ghost' of injuries has struck the club after one of its international players was released to their respective national team. In this case, it was one of the young talents of the Barcelona team who was serving the Spanish Under-21 national team: Fermín López.
What Injury Does Fermín López Have?
The player from Huelva, according to a recent brief statement issued by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, after undergoing medical tests on Monday morning, it was determined that he has a muscular injury, of which further details have not been provided. Faced with this situation, in agreement between the RFEF and the Barcelona club, it has been considered appropriate for him to return to the team's dynamics to determine the exact extent of his physical setback and proceed with his recovery process.
From this point, another source of information, journalist Rafael Acevedo for the TV program 'Chiringuito TV', mentioned that the player from El Campillo, awaiting a magnetic resonance imaging scan, could be suffering from a muscle tear. This situation still needs confirmation, but if true, depending on the severity of the injury, in the best-case scenario, it could imply a recovery time of 8 to 10 days, while in the worst-case scenario, it could extend to around two to three weeks.
Now, after being removed from the Spanish U-21 national team, he will not be able to participate in the two matches valid for the European Championship qualifiers. The first of these matches will be against Scotland next Friday, September 6 at 8:00 PM (Spanish peninsular time) at Tynecastle Stadium in Edinburgh, while the second match will be against Hungary next Tuesday, September 10 at 5:45 PM at Széktó Stadium in Kecskemét. His place in the call-up by coach Santi Denia, as mentioned in the statement issued by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, will be taken by another Barcelona player: Pablo Torre.
Fermín, a New Victim of the 'Pedri Case'?
Upon seeing this unfortunate physical setback of the '16' blaugrana, it is inevitable that memories of the situation that occurred with Pedri González in 2021 come to mind. At this point, it is important not to overlook that Fermín, after a 2023/24 season in which he played around 43 games with the Catalan club (1,948 minutes), in addition to roughly 28 minutes with the Spanish national team in the Eurocup and six more matches (426 minutes) with 'La Rojita' in the Olympic football tournament in Paris, could be feeling the physical toll. This is because he had very little time to rest before embarking on his journey with the Barcelona team for the 2024/25 season, during which he has already taken part in three matches, accumulating 57 minutes of action.