Barcelona are once again forced to take a cautious approach with Pedri, as journalist Javier Miguel has delivered a fresh update through AS on the midfielder’s recovery timeline.
The 22-year-old has been pushing hard to return ahead of schedule, but the latest assessment suggests that a comeback against Chelsea is unlikely.
Instead, the club now believes his more realistic return date will be during the fixtures against Alaves or Atletico Madrid.
Pedri has spent weeks battling his way back from a tear in his left hamstring, suffered during the El Clasico on 26 October.
Although the early expectation inside the club was that he would miss around six weeks, the midfielder surprised everyone by progressing far faster than planned.
In fact, his return for the match against Athletic Bilbao was briefly considered a possibility that would have seen him return more than two weeks ahead of the original forecast.
Barcelona don’t want any risk
As such, Barcelona’s medical and coaching staff have stepped in to slow things down.
Pedri, Barcelona player
Pedri will not be available against Chelsea. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)
Over the past few days, the club has prioritised caution over risk, preferring not to take the final step until Pedri is completely ready.
The plan had been for him to take part in a limited portion of last Tuesday’s training session. However, an unexpected case of gastroenteritis forced a sudden change, keeping him out of the group dynamic.
Despite this setback, Pedri has remained active, continuing his physical work inside the gym. The expectation now is that he will rejoin the team this Sunday.
Even with that progress, the idea of him playing on Tuesday against Chelsea has been ruled out as premature.
At best, he will have completed only one full session with the squad before the team travels to London.
That is nowhere near enough preparation for a player returning from a muscular injury, and Barcelona have no intention of repeating past mistakes that led to setbacks.