Roony Bardghji Suffers ACL Tear: Career Setback for Barcelona Winger

Barcelona winger Roony Bardghji has suffered a devastating ACL tear in his right knee, a brutal injury that wrecks both his season and his planned summer exit from the club.

The Spanish champions confirmed on Tuesday that the 20-year-old Sweden international damaged the ligament during training on Monday. Tests have since revealed the worst: he will need surgery in the coming days and faces months on the sidelines.

A move lined up – then everything collapsed

This was supposed to be the summer Bardghji left Barcelona to relaunch his career. After talks with club management, he had been preparing for a transfer before the window closes on September 1, with interest arriving from across Europe, including the Premier League. Negotiations were expected to ramp up this week.

Instead, they have stopped dead.

In a twist that will sting for a long time, the injury came just days after coach Hansi Flick told Bardghji he should look for a new club, with first-team minutes at Barça set to be scarce in the coming campaign. The message was clear: opportunities would be limited, and a move was the best route to regular football.

Barcelona even tried to shield him. To avoid any risk before a sale, the club left him out of Saturday’s friendlies against Nottingham Forest and Udinese. He missed those games to stay safe. Then the ligament went in training.

Second ACL blow in the same knee

This is not Bardghji’s first nightmare with his right knee. It is his second torn ACL in the same joint, after suffering the same serious injury while playing for Copenhagen in 2024.

Barcelona signed him from the Danish club last summer in a deal worth around €2 million. In his debut season in Spain he made 28 appearances in all competitions and scored twice, but most of those minutes came from the bench. His path to the starting XI was already narrow. The summer arrivals of Anthony Gordon and Karim Adeyemi were set to squeeze it even further.

Now that path has disappeared altogether, at least for this season.

Window shut, season on hold

With the transfer window closing on September 1, the timing of the injury effectively ends any prospect of a move this summer. No club will gamble on a player facing a long rehabilitation from a second ACL tear in the same knee.

Bardghji will undergo surgery in the coming days and then begin a lengthy recovery programme in Barcelona. Instead of using this campaign to relaunch his career elsewhere, he will spend it in the treatment room and the gym, trying to rebuild his knee and restart a career that has already had to reset once.

For a 20-year-old who thought he was on the verge of a fresh start, the question now is stark: how many times can he fight his way back?