Barcelona’s De Jong, Pedri out until at least April – sources

Barcelona have suffered a double midfield injury before the start of the season, with Frenkie de Jong and Pedri both set to miss next week's crucial Champions League match against Napoli and the trip to Atlético Madrid in La Liga.

Sources have told ESPN that De Jong will be out for around a month after Barca confirmed he sprained his ankle ligament during Sunday's goalless draw against Athletic Club in La Liga.

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Tests carried out on Monday revealed that Pedri is suffering from a thigh problem after also failing to finish the match in San Mamés.

Given Pedri's recent injury history, there is hesitation in putting a time frame on his return to action, although he is not expected to reappear until at least April.

“Pedri started his recovery work on Monday with the sole objective being to return to full fitness – not focused on a certain moment of a concrete match,” a source told ESPN.

De Jong and Pedri join Gavi on the sidelines, leaving Barca short of midfield at a key moment of the campaign with the Champions League last 16 second leg against Napoli coming up.

THE Blaugrana will host the Italian champions at the Olympic Stadium on March 12 after a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Diego Maradona in the first leg last month.

Xavi Hernández's side also have important games coming up in La Liga as they look to secure a top-four finish and keep their fading title hopes alive.

They host Mallorca on Friday, then travel to Atlético on March 17 before the international break to try to narrow the eight-point gap that separates them from league leaders Real Madrid.

If Barça progresses against Naples, they will then have a potential Champions League quarter-final at the start of April, with the second La Liga match. Classic of the season against Madrid scheduled for April 21 at the Bernabéu.

This is the second time this season that De Jong has sprained his ankle. He was out for almost two months between September and November due to an injury to the same ankle.

For Pedri, this is the latest in a series of problems he has encountered since playing 52 games in his first campaign with Barca in 2020-21, in addition to the European Championship and the Olympic Games with Spain.

The former Las Palmas midfielder missed 41 matches for club and country in 2021-22, mainly due to a hamstring injury which kept him sidelined for several months.

He also missed 15 games in the second half of last season due to another hamstring problem which he picked up during the Europa League match against Manchester United.

Earlier this season, he was out for two and a half months with a quadriceps issue, while another muscle issue sidelined him for three weeks at the end of the year.

With Gavi also out for the season with a torn ACL, Xavi called up youngsters Marc Casadó and Pau Prim to train with the first team on Monday.

Oriol Romeu, Sergi Roberto, Ilkay Gündogan and Fermín López are the team's last fit central midfielders, while central defender Andreas Christensen has also been deployed in a more advanced position in recent weeks.