Thomas Vermaelen is determined to prove himself at Barcelona next season after enduring a “terrible” maiden campaign at Camp Nou. Barça signed the Belgium international from Arsenal for £15m last summer, but he struggled to recover from a hamstring strain he suffered at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and then sustained a serious thigh injury.
Vermaelen watched on in frustration as his team-mates completed a historic treble. The 29-year-old had to wait until the final league game of the season to make his debut. The defender felt uneasy about collecting winner’s medals last year when he barely contributed, and regards the campaign as a low point in his career.
“I got a medal, but you don’t feel like you have won the treble,” Vermaelen told Press Association Sport after playing an hour of Barcelona’s 3-1 friendly defeat to Manchester United in Santa Clara on Saturday. “I was very happy for the team, but it’s not like I contributed a lot for the cups we won.” Vermaelen has come through the first two games of Barcelona’s preseason tour of the USA unscathed and is optimistic about maintaining his fitness in the build-up to the new campaign.
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