Barcelona reported to pre-season training this week to begin preparations for a highly anticipated 2025–26 season.
Following a trophy-less campaign, Barcelona completed the first domestic treble in club history during Hansi Flick's first season managing the club. For the first time in the post-Lionel Messi era, Barça are a team that inspires fear across Europe and now the expectation is to challenge for every major trophy come the new term.
The summer in Barcelona, though, has been difficult. The club's financial troubles cast a large shadow on their ability to give Flick reinforcements for the new season. Still, this is a team that doesn't lack talent. On the contrary, there's plenty of position battles that are shaping up to be very interesting.
There's obvious starters, but other players must take advantage of the pre-season tour to impress Flick and carve out a prominent role next season. Others, must simply showcase they're worthy of not being shipped out in what remains of the transfer window.
Here are three Barcelona players worth keeping a close eye on during pre-season.
Andreas Christensen
It's no secret that Andreas Christensen's future with Barcelona will almost certainly be decided in the next month. Whether he stays or leaves depends heavily on how he performs this pre-season.
Barcelona currently have five center backs in their squad, without including Jules Koundé. A season ago, Flick opted to keep all five given that both Christensen and Ronald Araújo started the season nursing injuries. All central defenders are healthy now, which makes at least one of them expendable.
Christensen has a year left on his contract. Coming off a season where he missed more than 40 games through injury, he could be seen as the odd man out, with Barcelona perhaps looking to cash-in on the former Chelsea man.
Despite the injury-ridden term, Christensen featured in five of Barcelona's last seven games of the season including two starts. His performances weren't otherworldly, but he looked better than club vice captain Araújo.
The Denmark international has made his desire to see out his Barça contract clear. For this to happen, though, he must have a strong, injury free pre-season that convinces Flick he can't let him go. If Christensen shows his best, then he could surge on the center back depth chart, forcing the club to seriously consider parting ways with their vice captain.
Gavi
This time last year, Gavi was still deep in his recovery journey from an ACL injury suffered in Nov. 2023. Now that he's back to full fitness, the 20-year-old aims to compete for a more prominent role in Flick's side.
Gavi returned from injury in October of last year and played 42 games for Barcelona a season ago. Despite the large number of appearances, Gavi started just 15 games across all competitions and played nearly 2,000 less minutes than he did in 49 appearances during 2022–23.
The intensity, high-energy and tireless off the ball work-rate were on full display, but the young midfielder failed to make a significant impact with the ball at his feet.
Ever since he erupted into the spotlight as a teenager in 2021, Gavi played mostly as one of two players in a midfield double pivot. Flick, on the other hand, deployed him almost exclusively as a No. 10 last season, many times relying on his industrious pressing to make up for Robert Lewandowski's non-existent work out of possession.
Still, Gavi's at his best when he has a little more space to operate and has the whole field in front of him. The pre-season is the perfect time for Flick to take a look at the Spain international in his natural position.
If Gavi shakes off the rust and returns to his best form, then it wouldn't be a surprise if he usurps the starting job from either Dani Olmo or Frenkie de Jong come the start of the season.
Marc Bernal
Aside from any possible moves in the transfer market, there's perhaps not a bigger Barcelona storyline heading into the season than the health status of La Masia gem Marc Bernal.
The best news of the first week of Barcelona's pre-season training was Bernal taking part in full team practice nearly 11 months after tearing his ACL three games into the season.
The 18-year-old midfielder impressed Flick so much last summer that the German opted against adding any midfield reinforcements to cover for the injuries of both Gavi and De Jong. Bernal started Barça's first three games of 2024–25 and looked set to partner Pedri in the midfield pivot.
Marc Casadó's breakout season might've never happened had it not been for Bernal's injury. Now, the teenager is almost ready to return to action.
Bernal has been often compared to Sergio Busquets given his natural physical attributes that mix brilliantly with his quality on the ball. He's a prototypical La Masia central midfielder, an intelligent conductor capable of dictating games from deep with seemingly every type of pass at his disposal.
Flick will be cautious with Bernal and won't risk him in games until he's completely cleared by team doctors, making his appearance during pre-season matches unlikely. However, his training performances during the season warm-up and how his body handles them will determine how soon he can return to the pitch once the campaign starts.
All eyes will be on Bernal's evolution over the next month to figure out when his season debut might be. When it occurs, he just might be Barcelona's best reinforcement for 2025–26.
It's worth remembering Bernal captained the generation of La Masia teams that included both Pau Cubarsí and Lamine Yamal.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Three Barcelona Players That Need to Impress in Pre-Season.
