5 players who are lucky to be playing for Barcelona

#1 Thomas Vermaelen

Thomas Vermaelen hasn't had his luck with injuries - but he has had ample luck elsewhere

This man truly trumps the remainder of this list!

Admittedly, things are looking on the up for Thomas Vermaelen right now. He has played every match for the La Liga leaders since 26th November, and has proven solid and held his ground during this period.

But to be in FC Barcelona in the first place, he has been incredibly lucky.

Vermaelen had always struggled with injury during his time at Arsenal, but 2013-14 season brought the added challenge of finding himself out of the club’s first choice centre-back partnership. Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny formed an able pair, and Vermalaen could no longer hold a guaranteed first 11 spot, even as the club captain at the time.

There are many clubs who would love to sign a 3rd choice Arsenal centre-back looking to move on for game time, but no one would have added FC Barcelona to that list. After 2 injury-ravaged years at the Camp Nou, Vermaelen was loaned to Roma – where he played just 607 minutes, plagued by injury yet again.

Ernesto Valverde chose to retain the club's long-standing faith in Vermalaen in the current season when a deal for Inigo Martinez failed to materialize.

He hasn’t had much luck with his fitness – but he would certainly have nothing to complain about the path his career has taken, despite that.