The situation
Frenkie de Jong decided to bring his return to work two days earlier, joining training this Tuesday when he is scheduled to return on Thursday. The Dutch midfielder, who was the blaugrana player who played the most minutes in the World Cup in Qatar, trained apart from his teammates . In this way, Xavi Hernández was already able to count on practically all his troops in the morning session at the Ciutat Esportiva, awaiting the return this Thursday of Memphis Depay and Raphinha, and the incorporation of the two finalists, the French Jules Koundé and Ousmane Dembélé, who is expected to face them at the beginning of next week. Likewise, Xavi has also recovered practically all the injured: Franck Kessié and Pablo Torre were discharged this Monday and only central defender Ronald Araújo is still out, who is expected to be discharged in about ten or fifteen days. With the return of all the World Cup players, the Blaugrana coach will only have the unknown if he will finally be able to line up Robert Lewandowski for the derby against Espanyol on December 31 at the Camp Nou . It must be remembered that the player was sanctioned with three games, but Barcelona, after seeing his passage through the Appeals Committee frustrated, has appealed to the TAD (Tribunal de Arbitraje Deportivo) requesting precautionary measures before the ruling. If these measures are finally accepted, the sanction would remain up in the air, so the Polish attacker could play the last game of 2022.
The details
Apart from the return of Frenkie de Jong, the morning session also included the novelty of the young talent from the academy, Lamine Yamal, together with the players from the subsidiary, Estanis Pedrola and Aranau Rafús, and those from the youth team, Héctor Fort and Dani Rodríguez. The squad will have a party this Wednesday and will return to training this Thursday, with the presence of Memphis and Raphinha.
