This Sunday, the players of Barcelona were scheduled to begin their medical examinations ahead of a preseason that will include a tour of Asia. Once that was done, on Monday, July 14, Hansi Flick called all his players to start training, with a double session to get in shape and begin a season that promises to be exciting, as they return to the Camp Nou, where they want to fight for all the titles and win the Champions League that slipped away from them last season.
Barcelona’s preseason
On July 24, the Barcelona squad will begin their journey for an Asian tour, where they will play a total of three friendly matches. Their first stop will be in Japan. After playing a friendly match in Japan, they will return to the plane for a final stop in South Korea, where they will face two teams from the Asian country.
Barcelona’s first friendly match will be on Sunday, July 27, in the morning against the legendary Vissel Kobe, where former Barcelona players such as Andrés Iniesta, Sergi Samper, Bojan Krkic, and David Villa played. The next opponent, already in South Korea, will be FC Seoul, who will host the team coached by Hansi Flick on Thursday, July 31, at 1:00 p.m. (peninsular time). Daegu FC will be the last opponent for the Azulgranas, and the match will be played on Monday, August 4, at the same time as the previous one.
The 9+1 Barcelona youth players
Hansi Flick has called up nine players from the Barcelona youth academy to start the preseason, which will see its first weeks at the Joan Gamper Sports City. It remains to be seen whether all of them will end up traveling to Asia or if only a few will make the trip.
These players will try not to be mere fillers in training, but rather convince the German coach to give them a chance, as has already happened with other youth players such as Marc Casadó and Marc Bernal, among others.
There are no goalkeepers among them, as Hansi Flick has an overbooking in a position where Iñaki Peña and Marc-André Ter Stegen are looking for a destination. The former Bayern coach already knows some of the youth players mentioned, such as Toni Fernández, whom he gave his debut with Barcelona’s first team at the age of 16. He will be accompanied in this preseason by his cousin Guille, who also trained with the seniors last summer.
Excess of wingers
Pedro Fernández, winger, and Juan Hernández, midfielder with good vision, both 17, will be present in Barcelona’s preseason training camp, as will center back Landry Farré, who can play right back and could be one of the options to move up to the first team in the absence of players in that position. Jan Virgili and Jofre Torrents are also hoping to impress Hansi Flick, although their positions are better covered, as the former is a winger and the latter a left back.
Hansi Flick wants to have several wingers at his disposal while waiting for a signing after the departure of Nico Williams. Ibrahim Diarra and Dani Rodríguez are the two players who will be promoted from the youth team to complete the preseason squad, the latter having made his first-team debut, although he was injured in that game. The tenth is newcomer Roony Bardghji, who will have a number in the reserve team and will be on trial to see if he stays at Barcelona or is loaned out so as not to hinder his potential with a lack of playing time.