La Masia talent emerges as in-house solution to Barcelona injury woes

Barcelona are down the bare bones in defence, following news that Andreas Christensen has injured his ACL. The Denmark international suffered a partial tear during Saturday’s training session, and although he will avoid surgery, it’s expected that he will be out of action for at least four months.

Christensen’s absence comes at a terrible time for Barcelona, given that Ronald Araujo is already out for the foreseeable future after requesting a leave of absence. Both players being unavailable means that Hansi Flick only has three senior options for the central defensive position: Pau Cubarsi, Gerard Martin and Eric Garcia.

Image via Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

Because of this, Barcelona are hoping to bring in a new centre-back during the winter transfer window, with sporting director Deco having already begun work on the matter. However, it cannot be guaranteed that someone will join, given that the Catalans are restricted by their well-documented financial woes.

If it is the case that Barcelona are unable to make a signing, they will have to look for a solution from within. According to Sport, the favoured candidate would be Alvaro Cortes, who has many options to become the next La Masia star to make the step-up to the first team.

Cortes’ profile would be ideal for Flick and Barcelona

It’s been widely reported that Barcelona want to sign a left-sided central defender in 2026, with their summer plans having been brought forward to January due to the situations with Christensen and Araujo. Martin is the only natural in that area that Flick currently has, but Cortes would be the second – if he is counted upon going forward.

Cortes starred for Barcelona in the U20 Intercontinental Cup back in August, and now could be the time for him to make his mark on the first team. Until a signing is made, the likelihood is that Flick will keep an eye on him, with him having good chances to train with the first team after the winter break.

Source: Sports Yahoo