PHOTO: Barcelona players wear special shirt to support injured Vermaelen

Thomas Vermaelen is becoming a beloved member of the Barcelona squad without even playing a single second for the club.

The former Arsenal defender, who made a £15-million move to Spain this summer, has yet to make his debut with the club due to a lingering hamstring injury. He underwent surgery to deal with the problem earlier this week, and is expected to miss roughly four months of action as a result.

Ahead of their match against Espanyol at the Camp Nou, his teammates showed their support for his rehabilitation process with commemorative shirts during the pregame warm-up on Sunday.

The shirts, which read "Much encouragement Thomas", were a nice gesture.

That said, this sort of tribute is often reserved for serious, life-altering ailments (or worse). An injury-prone player being injured once again doesn't quite fall in that same category.