Hansi Flick’s 11 Days to Prepare Barça for La Liga
Hansi Flick’s first real race against time at FC Barcelona has begun. With the World Cup only just in the rear-view mirror and half his dressing room having gone deep into the tournament, the new coach has just 11 days to turn a fragmented squad into a functioning team before the 2026/27 La Liga season starts.
Because of their heavy World Cup involvement, Barça and eternal rivals Real Madrid have been granted a delayed start. While most of the league kicks off a week earlier, Los Blancos open away to Espanyol in Barcelona on August 22. Flick’s side follow 24 hours later, also on the road, at Elche.
Those dates loom large. They give Flick roughly a week and a half to bring key pillars like Lamine and Pedri up to speed, to move them from post-tournament recovery into competitive sharpness. For players who carried the weight of a World Cup summer, that’s a tight turnaround.
Not everyone is starting from zero, though. Several members of Luis de la Fuente’s Spain squad, fresh from writing their names into national-team folklore, have already rolled up their sleeves at the training ground.
Returning Players
Gavi was the first to walk back through the doors. The midfielder started Spain’s opening 0-0 draw with Cabo Verde in Group H, only to lose his left-wing role to Atletico Madrid’s Alex Baena for the remainder of the tournament. Dropped on the international stage, back early at club level – the timing hands Flick more precious days to work with one of his most intense competitors.
Eric Garcia and Joan Garcia checked in on August 9, swelling the numbers further. On the same day, two World Cup semifinalists joined them: Anthony Gordon and Jules Kounde, who went deep into the knockout rounds in North America with England and France respectively.
Their final act at the tournament underlined the chaos of their summer. Gordon and Kounde faced off in a wild third-place playoff, a 10-goal spectacle that England edged 6-4. Bukayo Saka stole the show with a hat-trick, but for Barça the more important detail is that Kounde played heavy minutes right to the end.
Now the Frenchman returns to a different kind of pressure. His spot at right back is no longer untouchable. Standing in his path is 2007 La Masia graduate Xavi Espart, pushing from behind and threatening to turn one of Flick’s first big selection calls into a genuine battle.
The countdown to Elche has started. For some, it’s about recovering legs. For others, it’s about seizing an opening before the World Cup stars are fully themselves again. And for Flick, it’s 11 days to set the tone for an entire season.
