A press report revealed on Thursday the plan of Barcelona's German manager Hansi Flick regarding the club's Brazilian player Raphinha.
Raphinha picked up a hamstring injury on duty with Brazil during the current international break.
According to "Marca", Flick will not risk rushing Raphinha back after the forward was dropped from the Brazil squad through injury.
The German coach has neither forgotten nor moved past last October, when he rushed Raphinha back into training and the Brazilian international suffered a relapse of the same injury, in the same area as his current problem.
Indeed, Flick is already weighing up options to replace the former Leeds player. Raphinha will land in Barcelona in the coming hours and undergo tests, with his availability for Saturday's clash against Getafe on the tenth still in doubt.
Flick owned the mistake. He publicly admitted he underestimated the thigh injury last season and mismanaged the return schedule, leaving Raphinha out of action for almost a month.
One absence stood out among the many: the Clasico. Now that fixture looms large again, set for Sunday the 25th of this month at the Camp Nou.
No repeat of that hateful scenario is on Flick's agenda. He will handle the Brazilian's return with care. The moment Raphinha arrives from Australia, Barcelona's medical staff will run further tests to gauge the pain in the back of his right thigh.
So Flick will tread carefully, and he is already studying his options to fill Barcelona's centre-forward berth for the Getafe match next Saturday, the 10th of this month.
That said, the former Leeds player has not yet been ruled out. His participation hinges on the results of those tests and how far along his recovery is.
Plenty of alternatives are on the table should the Brazilian fail to recover in time, each with completely different characteristics and styles of play.
Gabriel Jesus and the young Hamza Abdelkarim, both out-and-out strikers, are the most natural replacements. Yet the pair, both recent arrivals, have barely featured this season.
The Brazilian has managed just 41 minutes across four matches, though he scored twice. The Egyptian, meanwhile, has clocked only 4 minutes in a Barcelona shirt, in the La Liga game against Rayo Vallecano.
Others have played and impressed in the false nine role: Dani Olmo, Fermin Lopez, Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi. Nor can Flick rule out deploying Lamine Yamal through the middle.