Barcelona medical staff were not enthusiastic about the arrival of this new signing…
Barcelona staff reportedly begged club officials not to sign injury prone Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen this summer, a request that was ignored by the Catalans, who pushed forward with the £10m deal.
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Reports on TalkSport claim that medical staff rallied against the deal for the Belgian, who is yet to play a competitive fixture for the club. The 28-year-old picked up his latest injury playing at the World Cup.
He lasted just 31 minutes in the group match against Russia before hobbling off with a hamstring injury that he is still struggling to completely recover from.
The source adds that the deal was apparently sealed by Barca’s sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta with manager Luis Enrique the driving force behind the more fruitful deal to sign Jeremy Mathieu, who has completed six league matches so far this season.
Arsenal fans were not convinced when manager Arsene Wenger allowed the former club captain to leave the Emirates Stadium, but it appears the Frenchman made the right decision to ditch him and bring in youngster Calum Chambers instead.
The Gunners are still a little short in defence, but the club’s supporters can rest assured that the presence of Vermaelen would not have helped their current injury issues.
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