Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal seeks external opinions on potential surgery for groin issue | OneFootball

Lamine Yamal was unable to deliver the performance for Barcelona that might have made the difference during El Clasico, but neither did he look comfortable on the pitch in general. The 18-year-old continues to battle a groin issue that has caused him pain since late August.

On and off he has played over the last two months, featuring for Spain through pain-killing injections in early September. Lamine Yamal then missed four games for Barcelona, played 120 minutes against Real Sociedad and Paris Saint-Germain, and then was out again for another three weeks. Since the October international break, Lamine Yamal has played an hour against Girona, 75 minutes against Olympiakos and the full match against Real Madrid.

Lamine Yamal has consulted external opinions on groin surgery

This week it was reported that Lamine Yamal was still suffering from discomfort, after Marcus Sorg, Barcelona’s assistant manager had said that he simply lacks rhythm. Sport say that Lamine Yamal has consulted external doctors for their opinion on the issue, to see if it was progressing as it should.

Image via David Ramos/Getty Images

The option of surgery was also discussed, but for now it is not being considered. Lamine Yamal intends to continue with the ‘conservative’ treatment, doing his physiotherapy exercises and playing for the next few weeks, before reassessing his situation.

Evidence that injury is impacting Lamine Yamal

The visible impact that the injury is having plays out in the numbers too. Cadena SER higlight that Lamine Yamal was averaging 11.33 dribbles per game before his injury, and 9.15 since. Meanwhile he was averaging 6.66 shots per game in the opening stanza of the season, and since his injury, that statistic has also dropped to just 3.81. In terms of goal contributions per game, that two has dropped from 1.33 per game to 0.6 per game, albeit playing into these numbers will be Barcelona’s decline in form too.

Positives for Barcelona ahead of Elche

The positive for Hansi Flick is that he expects to have Lamine Yamal in condition to play against Elche on Sunday. He will be joined by fellow offensive stars Dani Olmo and Robert Lewandowski, who have missed Barcelona’s last three matches through muscle injuries, but have both completed training this week, and are expected to be available against Elche too.