Ernesto Valverde's overbooking problem at Barcelona

Ernesto Valverde's overbooking problem at Barcelona

Valverde les dio las primeras instrucciones de lo que quiere de ellos
Valverde les dio las primeras instrucciones de lo que quiere de ellos | sport

The Barcelona coach has a total of 27 players right now

When Rafinha and Deulofeu are fit and the rest are back the problem will become worse

14 days later, the trident were back together but this time without the suits, music and everything else. They were back where they perform best, on the football field. Leo Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, the best attack on the planet, got back to business on Friday. The Uruguayan has been there since the 12th of July and he was joined by his Argentine and Brazilian colleagues, who had been in Japan as part of the Rakuten deal. 

Valverde took his fifth session as Barcelona coach and had 27 players training. As well as Messi and Neymar, other key players were back - Sergio Busquets, Iniesta, Alba, Digne, Umtiti, Pique, Arda and Denis Suarez. 

Rafinha and Deulofeu could not train as they still have injury problems, but they would make 29 - including the five youth players chosen to pad out the squad - Alena, Marlon, Cucurella, Vitinho and Ortola. Then there are the four players back from loan - Vermaelen, Samper, Munir and Douglas. 

On top of these, Andre Gomes, Ter Stegen and new signing Nelson Semedo are yet to be incorporated. With those three, Valverde would have 32. A squad can only be 25 players and Bartomeu says there will be two or three more signings, so expect several departures to follow too... 

Topics with the letter