Rumours about an immediate departure from the Camp Nou for defender Thomas Vermaelen may be put on hold for the time being after manager Luis Enrique praised the player for his professional attitude. The former Arsenal defender has been a major disappointment for Barcelona since his £ 16 million move from the Premier League.
He was expected to be the replacement for Carlos Puyol when he moved to Barcelona, but Vermaelen has been blighted by numerous injuries the last two years. He has been able to make less than 20 appearances during this period. Even though Barcelona have lifted quite a lot of trophies in these two years, Vermaelen has never been a clear part of any.
He is thought to be considering a move away from Barcelona in order to improve his luck with regard to injuries. However, the Camp Nou outfit will have only themselves to blame since Vermaelen’s injury problems started clearly during his final years at Arsenal. The Spanish club should have done during diligence on the player before bringing him.
The 2015-16 season, though, is starting to bring a much better period for the Belgian international. Vermaelen still has three years left on his contract. He signed a four-year deal in the summer of 2015 when he was just linked with a move to United. If you want to see him play whilst he is still at the Nou Camp, you can get Barcelona tickets from the likes of 1st4Footballtickets, who do a great job!
“Vermaelen is a top-class player. He is doing really well and looking after his fitness. He is really taking the chances he’s given and performing very well. He is a very important player for Barcelona,” said Barcelona’s Luis Enrique. Vermaelen will just be aware that he does not have a long time in the game after just hitting 30. He will hope to maximise his time in the game by managing his injuries much better than in recent times. He is close to acquiring 1000 minutes of legal action this season.