News of the Day: Afellay is Back, Update on Abidal, European Pre-Season for 2012/2013

He's back!

-First, the happy news! 6 months and 21 days after tearing the ACL in his left knee, Dutch winger Ibrahim Afellay has been declared fit again and will likely feature in the squad to play Levante this weekend. Welcome back, Ibi, we’ve missed you!

-Eric Abidal had his liver transplant surgery yesterday evening at Barcelona. Though the club will not release an official statement to protect his privacy, we hear the sugery went well and now comes the crucial recovery period. Abidal’s wife posted the following message on his Facebook:

Hi everybody,
I’m Hayet Abidal, Eric’s wife.
I’m writing you, today, on his Facebook page, on his request.
Eric and his cousin Gérard have indeed been operated yesterday in Barcelona and for the moment, everything is OK!
He really wants to thank you all for your messages, your support and all the strength you give him.
Thanks a lot!

-And lastly, the club has announced that this summer Barça won’t go on a far-flung pre-season tour. The team will stay in Europe, play a few local friendlies, and let the players recover from the Euros/Olympics/exhausting last few seasons. This is an unusual move (matches in Indonesia and Qatar were all but confirmed) and one that looks suspiciously like coming from Pep’s hand; a sign that he plans to renew and is exerting his influence into doing what’s best for the team? We hope so!

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Category: Barcelona, Injuries, Players, Preseason, Team News