Barcelona star ruled out of World Cup due to shock foot surgery

Barcelona star Fermin Lopez will not be part of Spain’s squad this summer that heads to the United States, Canada and Mexico for the 2026 World Cup. The 23-year-old suffered a surprise injury against Real Betis which has turned out to be much more serious than first thought.

Lopez participated in Barcelona’s 3-1 win over Real Betis on Sunday night, but was taken off at half-time with pain in his foot. It was not believed to be serious, but tests on Monday revealed that it could be worse than first thought, and following a scan, a fracture has been found.

As reported by MD, the scan detected a fracture in the fifth metatarsal of his right foot, which will require surgery to repair. He is now expected to undergo surgery on Tuesday to rectify the issue, but it does mean he will not be able to feature at the World Cup this summer – he was expected to be a key part of Luis de la Fuente’s squad.

La Roja will now have to reshuffle, just a week out from when de la Fuente was due to name his squad. It likely means that any doubts over Alex Baena’s spot in the Spain squad will be removed, and it could potentially open the door for other attacking options such as Ander Barrenetxea, Carlos Soler, Yeremy Pino and Jesus Rodriguez.

It is not certain how long Lopez will be out for, with some of his recovery depending on how the injury progresses, but could be as much as three months. Nevertheless, he will miss at least two months, taking him beyond the World Cup final date. From a Barcelona perspective, he still has hope of being back in time for the start of next season, but if not, it is unlikely to be much longer than that.