€80m Barcelona star on track to leave his injury woes behind once and for all | OneFootball

As time has passed, clubs like FC Barcelona have become more and more aware of the toll that a lot of fixtures take on their players. Understandably, fatigue and consequent injuries are now something that teams take extra care of. However, with Barcelona in particular, such lessons have been learned through past frustrations.

The most notable example of this fact, to this day, remains 22-year-old Spanish midfielder Pedri. While he may now be well-regarded and recognized in the footballing world, there was a time when the youngster made his debut under Ronald Koeman and was also starting to establish himself.

That happened all the way back in 2020, when the Spaniard had his breakout season with the club. Over the course of that campaign, he played a total of 68 games for both club and country as he participated in almost every major club and international tournament that season.

In totality, he accumulated 3529 minutes played that season, and he has been unable to replicate that figure ever since. Due to the excessive amount of fatigue that he suffered that season, the player developed a rather persistent issue with his overall fitness and would constantly suffer muscular injuries moving forward.

Eventually, it became clear to see these problems in the very next season. After that monstrous number of games he played in his breakout campaign, his next season at Barcelona saw him play in only 22 games and accumulate 1709 minutes. Subsequently, the very next season was not too different, with 35 games played and 2715 minutes accumulated.

In the previous season as well, his final campaign under Xavi Hernandez, Pedri played a total of 34 games and 2027 minutes. While they may seem like good numbers for a player of his age independently, they pale in comparison to his first full season at the club.

Now, however, it seems that Pedri’s fortunes are leaning towards a much better output. So far this season, the young Spaniard has already been a consistent performer and, as highlighted by SPORT, he could be well on his way to finally leaving his frustrating injury woes behind him once and for all.

During this ongoing campaign so far, Pedri has been one of Hansi Flick’s most trusted players. In fact, he is one of the four players in this Barcelona team who have played in every single match this season so far. That alone speaks volumes about his importance, but also about his consistency and availability.

Having taken part in 23 games so far this season, he already has 1722 minutes accumulated midway through the campaign. If the €80 million-rated midfield star continues to sustain this consistency and his overall fitness level, he is on track to exceed the numbers of the last two campaigns as well.