Lamine Yamal on Friday was named to and then withdrawn from the Spain squad hours after Barcelona confirmed a groin problem has resurfaced, ruling him out for up to three weeks.
Yamal, 18, will miss now Barça’s LaLiga trip to Sevilla on Sunday and Spain’s World Cup qualifiers against Georgia and Bulgaria.
After the international break, Barça host Girona and Olympiacos before travelling to Real Madrid for the first Clásico of the season on Oct. 26. Yamal will hope to be back for that game.
Earlier on Friday, he had been called up to the Spain squad after appearing to have recovered from injury following last month’s club versus country row.
Barcelona issued the following statement: “The discomfort in the pubic area that player Lamine Yamal has been experiencing has reappeared after the match against PSG. He will be out for the Sevilla game, and the estimated recovery time is 2-3 weeks.”
The teenage forward made his first appearance as a substitute in the win against Real Sociedad, before playing 90 minutes in the midweek loss to Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
Spain coach Luis de la Fuente had subsequently named him in his squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers at home to Georgia on Oct. 11 and Bulgaria on Oct. 14 but after the Barcelona statement issued on Friday, Yamal will not play in either match.
Álvaro Morata, captain in previous squads, was the surprise omission from De la Fuente’s side.
The striker, who turns 33 this month, is not injured. He has featured seven times for Como this season, where he is spending the year on loan from AC Milan, but is yet to score for the Italian side.
Athletic Club winger Nico Williams is also absent, albeit through injury, as are Dani Carvajal, Gavi and Fermín López.
Marcos Llorente, Pablo Barrios, Álex Baena, Yeremy Pino and Samu Aghehowa have all been recalled in their place.
Yamal will miss Barcelona’s match away at Sevilla in LaLiga on Sunday.
Barça will be paying close attention to Yamal’s minutes with Spain after Flick accused La Roja of “failing to take care” of their young players last month.
The German coach said Yamal had been unable to train due to a slight niggle, yet Spain had administered pain killers, allowing him to start games against Bulgaria and Turkey.
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De la Fuente, who previously said that he had “no interest” in Flick’s complaints, insisted on Friday that he has not fallen out with the Barça boss.
“There is no conflict with Hansi, not at all. I was just surprised with the comments he made because he’s been a national team coach,” De la Fuente said during a combative news conference. “I thought he would have some empathy in that sense towards the role. That’s the only thing, just that I was surprised he had that opinion given he was German coach.”
Due to the injury, Yamal missed four matches in total, wins against Valencia, Newcastle United, Getafe and Real Oviedo.
Asked whether there was a risk in playing Yamal, De la Fuente replied: “Have you played football? Then I don’t get the question. There’s always risk in football and sport. Always. Are they playing in their clubs? If they’re playing with their clubs, they’re taking risks, right? It’s exactly the same with their clubs. They’re completely normal situations … When you [the journalist] finish studying medicine we can speak about this again.
Barça sporting director Deco has since said he has spoken with his counterpart at the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Aitor Karanka, to ensure better communication between club and country moving forward.
Spain are atop their World Cup qualifying group with a 100% record. Six points from matches against Georgia and Bulgaria will take them to the World Cup if Turkey fail to win in Bulgaria and Georgia draw with Turkey.
Spain squad:
Goalkeepers: Unai Simón, David Raya, Álex Remiro
Defenders: Alejandro Grimaldo, Marc Cucurella, Pau Cubarsí, Dani Vivian, Robin Le Normand, Marcos Llorente, Pedro Porro, Dean Huijsen
Midfielders: Rodri, Dani Olmo, Mikel Merino, Martín Zubimendi, Aleix García, Pedri, Álex Baena, Pablo Barrios
Attackers: Mikel Oyarzabal, Ferran Torres, Yeremy Pino, Lamine Yamal, Samu Aghehowa, Jorge de Frutos, Jesús Rodriguez
