Barcelona’s pre-season training schedule started on Wednesday, and 24 hours later, the first proper sessions were led by new manager Hansi Flick. The Catalans are without their international stars until the end of the month, meaning that the vast majority of players under Flick’s watchful eye are youngsters.
One of the few senior players involved in pre-season training is Alejandro Balde – who’s only 20 himself. He likely would have been at Euro 2024 with Spain if he had not suffered a serious hamstring injury back in January, which he was still recovering from earlier this summer.
However, MD say that Balde has now fully recovered from the injury, meaning that he is capable of being fully involved in Barcelona’s entire pre-season schedule. Balde’s recovery is a massive boost for Flick, as he’s expected to rely heavily on the young left-back next season.
Gavi was also involved in Thursday’s session, although he is still far away from recovering. Barcelona expect to have their star midfielder back from his ACL tear in October – 11 months after he suffered the injury while playing for Spain against Georgia.