Xavi has wasted no time in making significant changes at Barcelona after he reportedly sacked two members of the club’s physio department in one of his first decisions as the new Manager.
The legendary midfielder was finally appointed as Barcelona’s new boss at the weekend before being officially unveiled to 10,000 supporters at the Nou Camp.
However, all is not well at the Catalan club with their ongoing injury crisis causing rifts between players and staff behind the scenes.
It has been reported that players are getting fed up with the alarming amount of injuries and are beginning to point the blame for the growing list of injuries on the club’s fitness coaches, believing their problems began in pre-season and have continued since.
And in the time since his appointment, Xavi has got wind of these heated arguments and has decided to take action – telling physio Juanjo Brau and physical trainer Albert Roca, who arrived with Ronald Koeman, that they are no longer needed at the club, according to AS.
The report goes on to claim that Xavi will bring Jaume Munill and Ricard Pruna back to the club to help solve the club’s ongoing injury crisis, given how the pair have previously worked at the Nou Camp.
Xavi has already discussed the issue with Sporting Director Mateu Alemany and has even talked about making personnel changes in the physio department in an attempt to get the club back on track.
Pruna worked for Barca for 25 years but left the club in September 2020 and now works in Dubai.
Alemany, meanwhile, is said to be concerned about injuries being wrongly diagnosed as well as players not recovering properly from issues and suffering relapses.
The most common problem afflicting the squad right now are muscle injuries, which have sidelined Pedri, Ousmane Dembele, Sergi Roberto, Nico Gonzalez, Gerard Pique, Eric Garcia and Ansu Fati.
Fati, Garcia and Nico were all forced off during the infuriating 3-3 draw away to Celta Vigo, where the Catalans let a three-goal lead at half-time slip.
The triple injury blow came hot on the heels of Dembele yet again being ruled out of action with a muscular problem and swelled the list of Barcelona players currently unavailable to 11.
Stand-in goalkeeper Neto is ill with the flu, while Sergio Aguero has been ruled out for three months with a heart problem after struggling to breathe in his last match against Alaves.
Danish striker Martin Braithwaite is recovering from a knee operation, while US right-back Sergino Dest is suffering from lower back pain.
