Silver lining! Why Gavi's ACL injury provides some good news for Barcelona and Vitor Roque - explained

The 19-year-old suffered an ACL injury when representing Spainin their Euro 2024 qualifier against Georgia, which will force him to undergo surgery. According to Rac1, Barcelona will be able to use 80 percent of the salary freed by Gavi to register Roque provisionally until June. They were informed about this development by La Liga on Wednesday afternoon but they have decided to wait until they get it in writing from the authorities.

The Catalan club won the race for Roque in the summer after they agreed to pay €35 million (£30m/$38m) to Athletico Paranaense. However, their struggle with La Liga's stringent Financial Fair Play regulations prevented them from registering the player. His agent, Andre Cury, had earlier insisted that the striker would join Barcelona in January 2024 which might well become a reality.

However, according to Sport, Xavi is keen to add a midfielder to the squad and has had a chat with sporting director Deco regarding this matter. The manager wants a like-for-like replacement for Gavi as he thinks Barcelona are running thin on resources at the centre of the park. There have been talks of pursuing Giovani Lo Celso or Real Betis midfielder Guido Rodriguez as potential loan options.

Barcelona have to choose between a midfielder and Roque in January as they cannot afford to bring in two new players. It now remains to be seen how Xavi responds to this tough call!