Barcelona are going to travel to the United States of America for their first pre-season tour in the Hansi Flick era.
But the German coach looks poised to be without many important first-team players. This is because of some players progressing far into the Euro 2024 and Copa America 2024 campaigns.
Barca have four players in the Spain squad with La Roja getting to the semifinal. That means the likes of Lamine Yamal, Pedri, Ferran Torres and Fermin Lopez will all miss the pre-season tour. Jules Kounde is also going to do the same after getting to the semis with France.
The club have to give a three-week holiday period to these players after they finish the Euros campaign. That means they can only join the squad in early August and are highly unlikely to be fit enough to play in the preseason games in the USA.
The Blaugrana also saw Ronald Araujo pick up a muscle injury in Uruguay’s win over Brazil in the Copa America quarterfinal. He looks poised to miss pre-season too.
Flick will also be without defenders Pau Cubarsi and Eric Garcia, after they were chosen to represent the Spanish national team in the Summer Olympics. The gold medal match is on 9 August, and if Spain go all the way, these two (and Fermin) might miss the start of the 2023/24 La Liga season too.
On top of these, there are also some injured players who are doubtful for the pre-season tour. Frenkie de Jong, Pedri and Araujo are all recovering from injury troubles.
Barca will play their first pre-season game against Man City on 30. This will be followed by matches against Real Madrid (3 August) and AC Milan (6 August).
Connect with us on our socials: