Hansi Flick offers exciting Frenkie de Jong injury update

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has confirmed midfielder Frenkie de Jong is close to making his first appearance of the season.

The Dutch international picked up an ankle injury back in April and has not been seen since, with limited updates on his progress sparking fears about the severity of De Jong's issue.

It was even claimed that De Jong's injury had proven to be a source of frustration behind the scenes at Barcelona, with club officials reportedly unimpressed with his decision to decline surgery and let his ankle heal naturally.

However, in the last few weeks, De Jong has been back in sections of Barcelona training and Flick has now confirmed the 27-year-old is close to returning to competitive action.

"I liked what I saw in training," Flick said. "Gavi too. They are increasing the pace in training.

"Frenkie is close to returning. We will see what happens next week."

Injuries have been a problem for Flick since he arrived at Camp Nou this summer and the boss received an extra blow this week as centre-back Inigo Martinez picked up a knock ahead of Saturday's trip to Osasuna.

"Inigo received a blow, so we will see how he is," Flick continued. "Evidently there will be some rotations, we have to see how the players are. It's important the experienced players are with us, like Raphinha and [Robert] Lewandowski.

"This is what we have in our hands. We give the players the option of recovering with the treatment without having to be on the pitch. Tomorrow we will have activation session, we will use the ball to do the rondos and there we will see how they are, but I hope they are ready for tomorrow evening."

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