The 2025-26 season starts on Sunday for Barcelona.
July 13 was the date Hansi Flick set for players to return for their pre-season medical checks after around a month of summer holidays. With a summer of no major international tournaments and Barca not involved in the Club World Cup, all senior players are expected to be there from the first day.
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Barca’s first training session will take place on Monday and Flick’s side will spend the following 10 days working at their Joan Gamper training facilities. On July 24, they will fly to Japan for a pre-season tour in which they will face local side Vissel Kobe before travelling to South Korea and facing FC Seoul and Daegu.
🔜 We are back this July pic.twitter.com/7VsDY9J1NY
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 3, 2025
Even so, the summer is far from finished. Goalkeeper Joan Garcia is the only signing so far while Nico Williams has decided to stay at Athletic Club. But Barca still want at least one other senior player, potentially a forward, to join before the end of the transfer window. Departures are expected, too.
This is what lies in store for Flick.
The Ter Stegen conversation
The most pressing item on Flick’s agenda. The club want to offload Marc-Andre ter Stegen, who is on a high salary and has seen another goalkeeper arrive in Garcia, but the German is determined to stay until the end of his deal in 2028.
Club sources — who, like all those cited in this article, asked to remain anonymous to protect relationships — told The Athletic that Flick has told Ter Stegen they will need to have a private chat when training restarts on Monday. Those figures are certain Flick will say he does not plan to restore him as No 1 next season given the signing of the 24-year-old Garcia.
Ter Stegen knows he is entitled to see out the rest of his contract, but Barca expect next summer’s World Cup to have an impact. The 33-year-old has finally established himself as Germany’s starting goalkeeper after Manuel Neuer’s retirement from international football and this would be his first major tournament in that role. If he is benched next season, that could be put at risk.
Barca senior figures have said they would be open to letting Ter Stegen leave for free or agreeing to a mutual contract termination.
Barca would like to offload Ter Stegen (Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)
This week, the club confirmed a two-year contract extension for Wojciech Szczesny after the Pole came out of retirement last season when Ter Stegen was injured. They plan for Szczesny to be their second-choice goalkeeper behind Garcia. The club were very happy with the 35-year-old’s influence last term, not just on the pitch but also as a veteran in the dressing room.
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There is a fourth goalkeeper in the mix: Inaki Pena. The academy graduate is expected to leave, with Barca and the 26-year-old having agreed this is the best outcome for all parties. His contract expires in 2026 but he could even leave for free — Barca sources say it is just a matter of finding the best destination for him and he will be part of pre-season until that happens.
If Barca get their wish and both Ter Stegen and Pena leave, that would leave the third-choice spot open for United States youth international Diego Kochen. The 19-year-old is highly rated within La Masia and would alternate with being the starting goalkeeper for the second team, Barca Atletic.
The Luis Diaz and Marcus Rashford saga
Before the start of their summer holidays, Flick and sporting director Deco concluded the team needed a new left winger to add quality and depth.
Luis Diaz and Marcus Rashford were identified as appealing candidates, but soon after Barca reignited their pursuit of Williams. We know what happened next: the 22-year-old opted against joining Barca and has signed a new, 10-year deal at Athletic, so Deco has had to return to square one.
Diaz remains the sporting director’s top priority but he is also the most complicated possible signing. Liverpool have shown no indication of entertaining negotiations for Diaz and already rebuffed an initial approach by Barca at the start of June.
The Catalans plan to inquire again in the coming weeks, but out of respect for the delicate situation at Liverpool in the aftermath of their striker Diogo Jota’s tragic death in a car crash, this is not expected to be imminent.
Barca believe Diaz would be willing to push for a move in negotiations, that he would be happy to join and willing to accept all of the caveats around the club’s registration situation with La Liga. But before any of that, they need an agreement with Liverpool.
Then there is Rashford, who is below Diaz on their list of priorities. The Englishman is very keen on joining and Manchester United want to offload him, giving Barca a strong hand in negotiations.
Rashford spent the second half of last season on loan at Aston Villa (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Senior club sources believe the more they wait, the better the conditions will be to sign Rashford — and the more they will know their salary margin when it comes to registering new players.
This is unlikely to have a quick resolution, which is not ideal for Flick’s planning. Barca’s search for a winger is likely to remain one of the hottest subjects in local media.
Other players on their way out?
Ronald Araujo, who was criticised for performances in the second half of last season, is now expected to stay. He returned to the training centre four days earlier than required this week, while Flick believes in the 26-year-old and wants to get him back to his best.
Andreas Christensen also started training ahead of schedule to join pre-season in the best form possible. The club would like to sell the former Chelsea defender as he enters the final year of his contract, but Christensen has no intention of leaving and is very happy with his life in Barcelona.
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Fermin Lopez has been suggested in the local press as a player who could bring in a potentially lucrative sum, but he is another who should be staying — thanks to a personal request from Flick. The German believes he needed players like Fermin to deal with a lengthy season. He is very happy with the 22-year-old’s attitude and what he provides. That is the same reason Flick has requested the club make Eric Garcia’s contract extension a priority, as a versatile defender who can provide depth.
Fermin is highly rated by Flick (Josep Lago/AFP/Getty Images)
Back-up forward Pau Victor is one player expected to leave. With the prospect of another forward coming in and with limited playing time already last season, the 23-year-old knows it might suit him to look for a move elsewhere.
The surprise could be Marc Casado. Figures at the club believe it could be a good moment to sell the 21-year-old midfielder if a lucrative offer were to be made. Casado enjoyed an impressive first full season with the senior team last term but lost his starting spot to Frenkie de Jong, while the highly rated Marc Bernal is also coming back from injury. Casado’s preference as a childhood Barca fan is to stay at the club, where he came through La Masia.
Bernal is seen as being more talented than Casado by those within the club, with a higher ceiling than his former youth-team colleague. Bernal, 18, will return this summer from a long-term knee injury suffered in August and is expected to be progressively reintegrated. Dressing-room figures compare it to the process Gavi underwent after returning from his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury last term.
Assessing Roony and new La Masia gems
This may not be the best season for new talents to shine at Barcelona — with no international tournament or involvement in the Club World Cup, all the senior players will be back immediately and that could mean less playing time for youngsters.
But there are still some names to keep an eye out for.
The first is Roony Bardghji. Barca are expected to seal the 19-year-old’s signing from Copenhagen for €2m soon. The club will leave it to Flick to assess the Sweden youth winger and decide what is best for his development — if he can stay and help the team or if it is better to find a new destination for him on loan.
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In terms of La Masia, the player generating the most hype is Jofre Torrents. There is a lot of expectation around the 18-year-old left-back, partly because he plays in a position Barca need to bolster. But he is also a physical presence in defence who is very technically gifted and well-equipped to attack, with a high footballing intelligence. He could become Alejandro Balde’s back-up if he performs well enough.
Toni Fernandez, whose cousin Guille also played for the second team last season, is among Flick’s favourite players from the academy. He impressed on the last pre-season tour and the German gave him his first-team debut in the Copa del Rey in January. He is a clever and versatile forward who can play in every position across the frontline.
Guille Fernandez is also worth monitoring, as are two of the stars of Barca’s under-19 team who won the UEFA Youth League, their equivalent of the Champions League, last season — midfielder Quim Junyent and winger Jan Virgili. They are all expected to join up with first-team training next week.
This news was originally published on this post .
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