Martin Braithwaite has a pop at Barcelona for lack of minutes
Karan Tejwani
- 16 Jun 2022 17:53 BST
- 3 min read
Martin Braithwaite has hit out at his treatment at Barcelona following a season where he’s rarely played for the club and could well be offloaded.
The Danish international started the season well, opening the campaign with two goals and an assist, but it only went downhill for him after that.
The forward suffered a serious injury, ruling out for four months after that, and when he returned, he was no longer in new manager Xavi’s plans, as the former midfielder took over from Ronald Koeman.
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Xavi didn’t feel Braithwaite could adapt to his style, and as a result, his season ended with four league appearances, and his goals at the start of the campaign were the only ones he scored all season.
What has Braithwaite said about his season?
The 31-year-old spoke about his campaign, and compared his season with Barcelona with the recently concluded Nations League fixtures he played with Denmark.
“I’ve played more in these four games with the Denmark national team than in the whole season at Barcelona,” he said, according to Marca.
Braithwaite only started one of the four games Denmark played in this international window, but still managed to sneak in 140 minutes, more than what he managed with his club – a total of 118.
It’s rather unsurprising that Braithwaite didn’t play much – the club signed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ferran Torres to bolster their attack in the winter transfer window, and that sent the Dane down the pecking order.
🎥| Goal! 2-0 Barcelona. Martin Braithwaite scores a header.pic.twitter.com/mp3gbvn6Hp
— Barça Buzz (@Barca_Buzz) August 8, 2021
Other than that, Luuk de Jong was seen as the back-up option, and while he was widely criticized in the first part of the campaign, he stepped up with some important goals in the second half of the season.
All of this led to Braithwaite’s exclusion, and the forward is now looking for a move elsewhere, with the Blaugrana looking to make some money off his sale.
La Liga clubs such as Valencia and Celta Vigo are interested in him, while from the Premier League, Brighton are considering the possibility of signing the player.
It’s unlikely Braithwaite sticks around at the Camp Nou next season following at torrid season, and playing time elsewhere may allow him to pick up some fitness ahead of Denmark’s World Cup campaign in the winter.
