Barcelona manager Hansi Flick signed the contract, took the photos, and gave his first words in Catalan a week ago as he arrived into the role, but was off again shortly after, heading to the Balaeric Islands on holiday with his family for ten days. On Monday, the work in earnest begins.
According to Diario AS, Flick will be back in Barcelona accompanied by coaching staff Marcus Sorg, Toni Tapalovic and Heiko Westermann at the Ciutat Esportiva, where he will meet with Sporting Director Deco to discuss transfers for the coming season.
One of the key decisions will be the continuity or not of captain Sergi Roberto, who had a agreed a new deal but Flick may decide to move him on. The latest is that he is closer to leaving than staying. Equally, President Joan Laporta declared that Joao Felix and Joao Cancelo would return if Barcelona could find new deals with Atletico Madrid and Manchester City.
Meanwhile Flick will also give his perspective on Frenkie de Jong and Ronald Araujo, who were being tipped as potential exits under Xavi Hernandez. Despite reports that Flick will look at Ansu Fati in preseason, the club are edging towards another loan for the 21-year-old. The only loanees with realistic chances of being part of the first team are Eric Garcia and Julian Araujo, returning from Girona and Las Palmas respectively. The former has interest from Girona.
The other four returning loaness will all be shipped out save a radical change of plans, wheher on loan or permanently – that consists of Pablo Torre, Sergino Dest, Alex Valle and Clement Lenglet. The latter has turned down offers from Saudi Arabia, and is seeking a move in Europe.
The other issue that Flick will make a call on is preseason training. It had been thought that training would begin on the 8th, 9th or 10th of July, but only three players’ presence is confirmed due to international duties at the Euros and Copa America, meaning Flick may decide to delay in order to have more resources at his disposal.
Despite having plenty of decisions to make between them, Deco and Flick look unlikely to have much certainty on the financial situation of the club until the second half of June, meaning they may have to operate in slightly temporary terms. President Joan Laporta has claimed there is no need to make a major sale, but many are tipping a sizable exit to occur.
