Barcelona's Thomas Vermaelen Impresses Against Malaga but True Test Will Follow

CAMP NOU, BARCELONA — In August 2014 Thomas Vermaelen signed for Barcelona, for €20 million. In May 2015 he played his first competitive game for the club. And in August 2015, he won his side three points by scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win over Malaga at the Camp Nou.

Barcelona have waited a long time to extract an ounce of value out of Vermaelen's signing, but now it's started to pay off.

The Belgian centre-back impressed in the opening game of La Liga, helping his side keep a clean sheet away at Athletic Club, where forcing Aritz Aduriz to stay quiet is easier said than done.

And Vermaelen was instrumental not only in another clean sheet, in Barcelona's second league match, but also in securing his side the victory.

For over 70 minutes, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez had knocked on Malaga's door and gatekeeper Carlos Idriss Kameni refused to let them pass. The Cameroonian goalkeeper denied Messi four times in the second half.

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But then Kameni made his first error, pushing a Suarez cross back into the middle of the box. And Vermaelen was there to meet it, sending a thunderous strike into the empty net.

Funnily enough, he was only playing because Gerard Pique is suspended for insulting the assistant referee during the Spanish Super Cup.

The Spaniard has served two games of a four-match ban and will also miss the clashes with Atletico Madrid, at the Vicente Calderon, and Levante, at Camp Nou.

The latter of those two games won't pose a problem to Vermaelen, but the former is where he will be truly tested.

It's easy to get excited about the 29-year-old after the first two matches, because he's played well and Barcelona have kept clean sheets.

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But only when he is up against forwards of the calibre of Antoine Griezmann and Jackson Martinez will we really see how capable he is of holding down a place in the Blaugrana back line.

If he doesn't perform against Atletico it's easy to see Pique replacing him straight away for the game against Roma in the Champions League on September 16.

Pique deserves his place, having played superbly last season as Barcelona won the treble, while Vermaelen watched on injured from the sidelines for almost the entire season.

But Vermaelen will hope that continuing his form will give him a chance to break into the team when everyone is eligible for selection, perhaps alongside Pique, in place of Javier Mascherano.

He already seems to have usurped Marc Bartra and Jeremy Mathieu in the pecking order, and Luis Enrique is confident that Vermaelen will continue to improve.

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Rodolfo Molina/Associated Press

Lucho said, per the Guardian: "I’m not surprised by his level of play. He is still not 100 percent and has to keep accumulating minutes. He is a big asset at set pieces, he has a lot of character and is an expert player."

Vermaelen himself was delighted with how the season has gone for him so far. He said in the mixed zone, per Sport: "I’m happy to have played in the first two games of the season and to have scored my first goal, which served to win the three points.

"[The injury lay-off] was difficult for me, I couldn't demonstrate who I am. But now I feel adapted and I feel good in this team."

So far, so good in the 2015-16 season for Thomas Vermaelen. And if that's what we're saying on the evening of Saturday September 12, after Barcelona's trip to the Calderon, this could turn out to be a very good year indeed for the Belgian.