According to Spanish newspaper 'Sport', Barcelona is proceeding cautiously with the injury recovery of 16-year-old academy midfielder Ebrima Tonkara. The club does not want to take any risks and will not shorten his recovery period to rush his return. If his recovery progresses as expected, he is anticipated to rejoin matches in mid-October.

The report states that Tonkara, born in 2010, is considered one of La Masia's most promising young players. Although this season is only his first year in the youth team, having just turned 16 this summer, he has already completed preseason preparations with the first team under Flick.

During preseason training, Tonkara made a very good impression on Flick. Despite his young age, his physical development is already quite mature, and he possesses excellent tactical understanding, ball retention skills, and the ability to make late runs into the opponent's penalty area.

Barcelona's confidence in him is also reflected in the arrangements for the new season. Tonkara was given the number 10 shirt for Barça Atlètic, and the club's original plan for him was to primarily train with Barça Atlètic under Belletti this season, while intermittently training with the first team.

However, Tonkara's development plan was temporarily interrupted by an injury. He previously suffered an ankle ligament injury in a friendly match for Barça Atlètic against Hospitalet, thus missing out on a call-up to the Spain U17 national team. Barcelona subsequently issued a medical report, initially estimating he would be out for approximately 5 weeks.

Some time has passed since the injury, but Tonkara is still expected to need approximately 3 more weeks for further recovery. According to reports, he will also need to wait a while before he can begin individual training on the pitch.

Barça maintains a high degree of caution regarding this and will not expedite any recovery steps. The club believes that for a young player still in the stage of physical development and growth, an ankle ligament injury must be fully recovered to minimize the possibility of re-injury.

Meanwhile, Flick and his coaching staff have been closely monitoring Tonkara's recovery. During the preseason tour, the coaching staff publicly praised his performance. If everything goes according to plan, Tonkara is expected to return to the field around mid-October.

According to the development path set for him by Barcelona, after recovering from injury, Tonkara will continue to use Barça Atlètic as his primary training platform while maintaining contact with the first team. If his performance meets expectations, he will still have the opportunity to receive first-team chances from Flick this season.

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