{
  "id": 12897606,
  "title": "Barcelona heavyweight could get his first minutes of the season against Alaves",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/08/barcelona-heavyweight-could-get-his-first-minutes-of-the-season",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-10-08T15:35:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Sports",
    "slug": "yahoo-sports",
    "url": "https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/barcelona-heavyweight-could-first-minutes-153500226.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Barcelona’s star midfielder Frenkie de Jong is rumored to make his first appearance of the season for the club against Deportivo Alaves on December 31st. The Dutch player has been sidelined since summer after suffering a serious knee injury at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Despite Barcelona’s insistence on surgery to aid his recovery, De Jong has opted for conservative treatment instead. According to Barça Reservat podcast on Catalunya Radio, De Jong’s potential return to the matchday squad will not be until the final week of October. Barcelona faced Real Madrid in the first El Clasico of the season on October 25th, making Alaves a likely opponent for De Jong’s first minutes of the season on December 31st.",
  "summary": "Frenkie de Jong took a big step forward on his road to recovery after joining FC Barcelona’s team training earlier this week.Having been out of action since the summer, following a serious knee inju...",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}