What’s up with Barça defender Thomas Vermaelen?

Thomas Vermaelen has yet to make his debut for the club

Belgian signing Thomas Vermaelen has been unable to debut for FC Barcelona so far and people are getting agitated as to whether the player is good enough to play for the Catalans.

What’s more, Vermaelen has missed 456 days through injury in four years.The defender cost Barça €15million and his latest physical problems are causing the Catalans some concern, especially as it has been over 2 months since his arrival at the Nou Camp.

It appears that Barcelona are worried they have been sold a lemon by Arsenal – and quite rightly so. Vermaelen has a long history of injuries which have in effect, have eclipsed the player’s fine technical qualities.

Vermaelen passed his Barça medical but the following day the Catalan giants announced that the centre back would have to undergo a period of recovery due to an injury he picked up at the World Cup.

A month and a half later Luis Enrique was told the 28 year-old was available as he had been given the all-clear by the club’s medical staff. However, the manager has been cautious about using the Belgian.

“When a player is given the all clear,” he explained, “there is still a process to go through.

“At the moment we are seeing him train at a good level, while he has also been at a good level physically during the training sessions.”

However, the fans are getting anxious as the player was training on his own away from the main squad. The Barça medical staff consider his injury not to be too serious and say that he could return to training with the first team in a matter of days.

That still leaves the question of whether Arsenal knew what they were doing when they sold the Belgian for €15million. In four years the player has missed over a year through injuries and that’s a major concern for any team. I think Barça should bear the brunt of the blame for not doing their due diligence on a player who’s CV is littered with injuries.