Barcelona in talks with RFEF to secure early release of three players from national team | OneFootball

Hansi Flick has been handed a real headache. La Liga, against the wishes of both FC Barcelona and Osasuna, has scheduled their postponed Matchday 27 fixture for Thursday, 27 March.

With the club’s appeal getting rejected, the match will take place right after the international break, with two Barcelona players – Ronald Araujo and Raphinha – having less than 48 hours of recovery time and long travel to and from South America.

Adding to Flick’s troubles are the recent injuries to Marc Casado and Inigo Martinez, making it even harder to assemble a competitive starting XI.

To complicate matters further, Barcelona face another crucial match against Girona at 16:15 (CET) on Sunday, less than 72 hours after the Osasuna clash.

Barcelona working to bring players back early

As such, according to SPORT, Barcelona are negotiating with the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to allow Gerard Martin, Fermin Lopez, and Pablo Torre to return early from the Spain Under-21 squad.

Martin earned his first-ever call-up to the U-21 national team for the friendlies against the Czech Republic and Germany, joining Fermin and Torre, who are already regulars under Santi Denia.

Gerard Martin has earned his first call-up to Spain U-21 squad. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

The plan is for the young trio to be released from the squad after Friday’s friendly against the Czech Republic.

Since these are friendly matches, there should be no major obstacles to their early return. If the agreement goes through, the three players will be back in Barcelona on Saturday.

The idea is for the Barcelona trio to skip Tuesday’s friendly against Germany, rest on Sunday, and return to training with the club on Monday. If they were to play the second friendly, they would have almost no time to recover for the Osasuna clash.

Denia has called up a large squad, and most of the other players in the group do not have club commitments until the next weekend.

Ensuring Torre, Martin, and Fermin return early would be a crucial boost for Flick ahead of a challenging run of fixtures.