Alaves vs Barcelona Laliga: Catalan club set to record victory over Alaves plus Bryan Gil transfer
At the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper on Friday, the FC Barcelona first team were put through their paces in a training session to prepare them for Saturday’s game against Deportivo Alavés. The available squad members were joined by Barça B’s Mingueza, Konrad, Ilaix and Iñaki Peña.
The first 15 minutes of the session saw Sergiño Dest and Miralem Pjanic train alongside the group, as their comeback from injury continues apace.
An light session will take place behind closed doors on Saturday, before the squad list is made official for the 9pm CET kickoff at the Camp Nou.
Meanwhile, Ronald Koeman is keen for his team to keep their run of wins in La Liga going against Alavés on Saturday evening at Camp Nou.
This week’s Barcelona news has been dominated by their two-goal Copa del Rey first leg semi-final defeat against Sevilla but there now is a positive update from the club. The Blaugrana play host to Alaves in this week’s La Liga action but two players are set to return to the first-team fold from injury, according to a report in Marca.
The report claims that right-back Sergino Dest and midfielder Miralem Pjanic are back in full training with the rest of the squad and should be involved in the matchday squad for the encounter.
American international Dest has been struggling for weeks with an injury to his right thigh while central midfielder Pjanic missed the trip to Seville with an injury to his left foot.
However, there was a more negative injury update to striker Martin Braithwaite who has suffered a muscle elongation in the adductor of the right leg and will not feature.
Ansu Fati, Sergi Roberto, Gerard Pique, Ronald Araujo and Philippe Coutinho remain absent.
One of the standout players to date in La Liga this campaign has been catching the eye of Barcelona for several years, according to El Mundo Deportivo.
Bryan Gil is enjoying somewhat of a breakthrough season on a year-long loan deal at Eibar from Sevilla, but he has been on the radar of the Catalan giants for quite some time.
The report claims that the Blaugrana have compiled up to 40 scouting reports on the Spain Under-21 international, who was born in the North-Eastern region of Catalonia but moved south as a young boy to the Andalusian city of Cadiz, where he was spotted and subsequently signed by Sevilla.
Earlier this week, veteran scout Germán Vaya Ballabriga, known as Mani, who returned to Barcelona in 2016, told the Què T’hi Jugues programme on Cadena Ser, as per Marca, that he had already spoken with Barca transfer chief Ramon Planes on the possibility of signing Gil.
Mani is known for his scouting in the Andalusian region and is credited with the moves of Ansu Fati and Andres Iniesta to the Catalan giants.
Gil’s current deal at Sevilla runs through to 2023 and currently contains a €35m release clause, but any deal would significantly increase any value.
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