Thomas Vermaelen makes his first Barcelona appearance in 591 days
The Belgian defender has not played since March 2016
This season he has only played in three friendly matches
Belgian defender Thomas Vermaelen made his first Barcelona appearance in one year, seven months and 12 days in Tuesday's Copa del Rey match against Real Murcia -- 591 days.
The Barça player, on loan at Roma last season, last played for the club of March 12, 2016, in a 6-0 win against Granada in La Liga. He played for 29 minutes.
This season, under Ernesto Valverde, he has been given minutes in three friendlies against: Manchester United (45), Real Madrid (27) and Gimnàstic (13). In the last of those games, at the Nou Estadi de Tarragona he got injured.
Vermaelen did play for Belgium in the last international break and this was his 22nd Barça appearance (one goal). In his first season (2014/15) he played one game and in his second season (2015/16) he played 20 games.
Barça signed Vermaelen from Arsenal in August of 2014. They paid the Premier League club 10 million euros up front, with another nine million euros possible in add-ons.
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