Rodri's Barcelona Debut Delayed Ahead of La Liga Opener

Rodri’s Barcelona debut is set to be put on ice.

The club’s marquee summer signing missed full group training on Saturday, the last session before Sunday’s La Liga opener against Elche, leaving his chances of featuring in the first game of the season hanging by a thread.

According to Spanish daily Marca, the midfielder did not join his teammates for the collective work and remained off the main pitch during the 15 minutes of training open to the media. With that limited involvement, an appearance in the opener is described as “highly complicated”.

The pattern has been clear. Rodri trained alone on Friday, then followed the same individual routine on Saturday, never fully integrating with the rest of the squad in the decisive sessions before competitive action begins.

Barring a late twist, Marca reports that Barcelona are preparing to delay his debut by a few days, preferring caution at the very start of a long campaign.

It caps a whirlwind first week in Catalonia for the midfielder, who landed on Monday and was officially unveiled as a new Barcelona player on Tuesday. For now, though, the club’s most eye-catching signing of the summer looks set to watch the season kick off from the sidelines.