Injury-hit Barça lose Gündoğan for LaLiga opener

Ilkay Gündoğan has been ruled out of Barcelona‘s LaLiga opener at Valencia on Saturday (ABC, ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes) to add to the Catalan side’s injury problems ahead of the new season.

Gündoğan, 33, took a knock to his head in Monday’s 3-0 Joan Gamper Trophy defeat to Monaco and will sit out the trip to Mestalla as a precaution.

The Germany international joins Gavi, Frenkie de Jong, Ronald Araújo and Ansu Fati on the sidelines, while Fermín López is yet to return from time off following his efforts with Spain at the European Championship and Olympic Games this summer.

Summer signing Dani Olmo, a €55 million ($60.6m) arrival from RB Leipzig, is also unavailable despite training with his new teammates for the last week.

Barça coach Hansi Flick says the Spain international is not fit enough to be involved, but his signing has not yet been registered with LaLiga, either, as the Blaugrana look to create space within their league-imposed spending cap to inscribe him.

The registrations of Iñigo Martínez, Pau Victor, Marc Casadó and Pablo Torre were finally processed on Friday, though, leaving Olmo and striker Vitor Roque‘s as the only two pending.

However, sources have told ESPN that Brazilian striker Roque, a €35m signing in January, has been told he can find a new club before the transfer window closes this month, either on loan or a permanent deal.

Elsewhere, Pedri returns to Barça’s squad to face Valencia after missing preseason with an injury sustained in Spain’s Euro 2024 quarterfinal win over Germany in July.

Flick says Pedri could play some part in the second half, meaning youngsters Casadó, Torre and Marc Bernal are the only natural midfielders fit to start, although Andreas Christensen and Raphinha can also be used centrally.