Jeremy Mathieu Injury: Updates on Barcelona Star's Ankle and Return

FC Barcelona's solid start to life under new manager Luis Enrique may be taking a blow after centre-back Jeremy Mathieu suffered an ankle injury. The former Valencia linchpin was signed this summer to shore up a threadbare Barca defence, but he is now a doubt for this weekend's La Liga fixture, the club confirmed: 

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Jeremy Mathieu is having trouble with his right ankle and will miss the Wednesday training session. The evolution of the injury will determine his availability for the rest of the week.

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If Mathieu is missing against Athletic Bilbao, he'll clearly be a big loss. The Basque club have enough options in attack to trouble any defence, let alone a depleted one.

Midfield playmaker Iker Muniain is a devilish creative ace with the quickness and trickery to exploit any gaps. But it's veteran striker Aritz Aduriz who could pose the biggest problem in Mathieu's absence.

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Intelligent, mobile, powerful and deceptively quick, Aduriz will be a major threat to a reshuffled Barca back four. Speaking of that reshuffle, Enrique has a few options.

The most obvious would be to slot natural midfielder Javier Mascherano back into the middle. However, the Argentinian doesn't always look the most comfortable playing out of position.

Perhaps Enrique could risk playing youngster Marc Bartra. But despite the 23-year-old's obvious potential, Bartra would be a risk against such an experienced striker as Aduriz.

Fortunately, Enrique may not have to make that gamble. Ex-Arsenal man Thomas Vermaelen has undergone his inaugural training session with Barca, according to the club's official Instagram feed (h/t Off The Post writer Rob Parker).

It may be too soon for Vermaelen to start, but Enrique will want to get him some minutes, in case Mathieu's absence turns into a prolonged one.

That's unknown at the moment, but even the short-term loss of the Frenchman, who is supposed to be Barcelona's new rock at the back, is a big blow.