An explanation for the absence of İlkay Gündoğan from Barcelona’s squad for the club’s season opener has been provided.
The name of midfielder Gündoğan has of course positioned itself front and centre in the headlines in Catalunya’s capital across the day to date.
This comes after the German international was a last-minute scratch from Barcelona’s matchday squad.
Hansi Flick’s troops are primed to make the trip to Mestalla this evening, for a La Liga meeting with Valencia.
In efforts to get their term up and running in positive fashion, however, the Blaugrana will need to make do without one of their standout performers from the 2023/24 campaign.
This comes with the aforementioned Gündoğan having been omitted from the club’s squad list:
So, where exactly is the 33-year-old?
As confirmed by a number of sources across the Spanish media, Gündoğan is still suffering the effects of a blow to the head during Barca’s Joan Gamper Trophy defeat at the hands of AS Monaco earlier this week.
The former Manchester City man is understood to been dealing with headaches and dizziness as recently as this morning, left in Catalunya for precautionary reasons as a result.
Conor Laird | GSFN
