FC Barcelona coach Luis Enrique said on Monday that his club will not be able to make any new signings to replace injured midfielder Rafinha Alcantara until January.
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Rafinha suffered cruciate ligament damage in Barca’s Champions League clash with AS Roma on Wednesday and could miss the rest of the campaign. “I can say that we won’t be able to count on the players we have signed until January”.
Luis Enrique has insisted that Barcelona’s recent spate of injuries will not “plunge us into misery” ahead of Sunday’s encounter with Levante in La Liga.
“I didn’t see any ill intent in Nainggolan’s injury”.
Team News: Rafinha is done for the season, as he tore his ACL in the match against Roma. The England global is a solid player, but he bases his entire game around his raw speed, something that wouldn’t fit Barcelona’s tactical setup particularly well.
Adriano is back in training and his return should ease the defensive crisis to an extent at Barca with injuries to Dani Alves and Douglas prompting Enrique to put Sergi Roberto in a makeshift right-back position.
Meanwhile, Mundo Deportivo (h/t Daily Mirror’s Liam Corless) claim Arsenal forward Walcott has become a transfer target for the Blaugrana, who could step up their interest in the wake of Rafinha’s injury. Only the coach’s criticism should affect him, and they don’t exist’. Inactive players will include Gerald Pique, who is serving his final suspension, and Thomas Vermaelen is out with a calf injury. If he wasn’t, we’d have only 17 players in our squad.
“I see Marc [Andre ter Stegen] in a very good way, like he’s been all season”.
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“It has been tough and a lot more so than past year “.
