Barcelona pre-season squad reshaped as three youngsters return to Barca Atletic

Hansi Flick has made his first three exclusions of Barcelona’s pre-season campaign, with Oscar Gistau, Ibrahim Diarra and Alex Gonzalez returning to Barca Atletic.

The trio trained with Barcelona’s reserve side on Friday morning after spending the past month working with Flick’s first-team squad.

Gistau, Diarra and Gonzalez were among 17 players from the reserve and youth teams who joined the senior group during preparations for the new season. They also travelled with Barcelona’s first-team delegation to England for the club’s pre-season training camp.

All three made their first appearances for the senior side during a friendly against Birmingham City. However, after four weeks working under Flick, they have now moved on to Vall d’en Bas, where Barca Atletic are holding their own training camp.

Their return represents the first reduction Flick has made to the group during the build-up to the 2025-26 campaign.

The decision was reported by Spanish newspaper Sport, which says Barcelona will continue to use the remaining 14 academy players currently training with the first team.

Those players are due to travel to Udine at the end of this week to take part in a three-team tournament involving Barcelona, Udinese and Nottingham Forest.

Hamza Abdelkarim remains part of Flick’s squad and will continue to work with the first team alongside Tommy Marques, Shane Kluivert, Xavi Espart, Toni Fernandez, Jofre Torrents, Alvaro Cortes, Orian, Ibrahima, Guille Fernandez, Brian Farinas, Jordi Pesquer, Aron Yaakobishvili and Iker Rodriguez.

Jofre Torrents is also reportedly close to signing a four-year contract with Ajax, although he remains involved with Flick’s group for now.

Barcelona are continuing their preparations with 16 days remaining before their La Liga campaign begins. Flick is using the pre-season programme to assess a number of young players from the club’s academy, while also shaping the squad that will compete at senior level when the domestic season starts.

For Gistau, Diarra and Gonzalez, the next stage of their development will now come with Barca Atletic. Their involvement in first-team training, the English camp and the friendly against Birmingham City has nevertheless given them early experience of working under Flick and competing alongside Barcelona’s senior players.

Flick’s decision does not apply to Abdelkarim, who remains among the academy prospects still being considered as the first team prepares for the opening La Liga fixture.