In more bad news on the fitness front, Barcelona midfielder Fermin Lopez has suffered a fresh injury just on the day he returned to training.

The 21-year-old had been sidelined at the start of the month due to a thigh injury he suffered while on national team duty for Spain Under-21.

Initially, it was expected that he would be out for three weeks, but Fermin returned ahead of schedule and rejoined group training today.

Now, though, SPORT’s Toni Juanmarti reports that Fermin has suffered a fresh injury in training today and is set to be out for several weeks.

The 21-year-old’s previous injury was in the left leg, and the new one is said to be in the right one.

The La Masia graduate could now be out for several weeks, which will come as a hard blow for the player who was in the final stretch of the recovery period before picking up a fresh injury.

Fermin’s absence coincides with that of Dani Olmo, leaving Hansi Flick short on numbers in the attacking midfield position.

With Gavi and Frenkie de Jong unlikely to be back until next month, the manager will have to make do with limited options or decide to dip into the academy reserves and rely on the likes of Unai Hernandez, Toni Fernandez, and Guille Fernandez.