Barcelona already planning their squad for pre-season in summer with La Masia in focus

Barcelona’s football department is already sketching out the skeleton of the squad that will report for pre-season training at the end of July, conscious that the expanded 2025 World Cup calendar will leave Hansi Flick without the bulk of his senior internationals until August. Club sources have told SPORT that the unusual timetable has accelerated internal planning and that, as in the summer of 2024 when Flick first arrived, the German coach is expected to work with a drastically reduced first-team group during the opening weeks.

That shortage of senior personnel has again opened a pathway for La Masia graduates to audition at the highest level. Technical staff have begun compiling a preliminary list of academy and Barça Atlètic prospects who will be invited to train with the first team, with the dual objective of rounding out the summer squad and evaluating who might be ready for a permanent step up.

Among those pencilled in for the July gatherings are winger Juan Hernández, who only last month extended his contract precisely to facilitate a closer look under Flick, and versatile midfielder Xavi Espart. Both players are anticipated to take part in the full pre-season programme. Jofre Torrents, Álvaro Cortés, Toni Fernández and Guille Fernández are also expected to form part of the enlarged training group, while Tommy Marques—absent from last summer’s sessions—has spent intermittent periods working with the first team this season and remains in consideration.

Decisions on the futures of these youngsters will crystallise after the initial weeks of drills and friendlies. Some could be kept with the senior squad; others may be farmed out on loan to gain senior minutes, or return to the reserves. The club’s ongoing presidential elections and the unresolved continuity of sporting director Deco and Flick himself have obliged planners to proceed cautiously, but the broad strategy is already fixed: lean heavily on La Masia to bridge the gap until the World Cup participants return.

Barcelona, top of La Liga by the slimmest of margins and alive on three competition fronts, are therefore balancing the urgency of the present with the foresight required for a uniquely demanding summer calendar. The next generation, once again, has been placed on standby.