{"id":35376,"date":"2026-06-05T16:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T16:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/35376\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T16:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T16:56:14","slug":"three-la-masia-prospects-who-could-do-pre-season-with-barcelonas-first-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/35376\/","title":{"rendered":"Three La Masia prospects who could do pre-season with Barcelona\u2019s first team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pre-season at Barcelona<\/a> is about fitness for the first-team players. It is also about Hansi Flick trying out new tactical setups that he intends to use during the course of the season.<\/p>\n

That said, the most exciting thing about pre-season at Barcelona is that it serves as an audition for some La Masia prospects. Flick has already shown that he is willing to open that door.<\/p>\n

Last summer, he included several names, including Toni Fernandez, Guille Fernandez, Jofre Torrent and Pedro \u2018Dro\u2019 Fernandez, in the touring party.<\/p>\n

This summer provides another chance for some La Masia candidates to stand out, and here are three who should get everyone\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

Xavi Espart<\/p>\n

\"XaviEspart made his debut against Newcastle United. (Photo by Eric Alonso\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Xavi Espart was already heavily involved with the first team in the latter part of the 2025\/26 season. He even has a memory to hold on to.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old made his senior debut against Newcastle United in the Champions League, coming on late for Ronald Araujo. He was then handed a start in the subsequent league game.<\/p>\n

Espart\u2019s ability to operate at full-back with a midfielder\u2019s instincts gives him a lot of value, and Flick seems to appreciate what he brings to the table.<\/p>\n

The German manager even compared the young teenager to Phillip Lahm from a stylistic point of view, which says plenty about how he is viewed internally.<\/p>\n

Right-back still remains a position of contention for Barcelona in the first team, and Espart has the chance<\/a> to put his hand up during the pre-season games.<\/p>\n

Tommy Marques<\/p>\n

\"TommyTommy Marques has made quite an impression. (Photo courtesy: X\/FCBarcelona_es)<\/p>\n

Another name not too unfamiliar with the first team, Tommy Marques has been ever-present in Hansi Flick\u2019s squad lists since the turn of the year.<\/p>\n

He made his debut against Mallorca and also came off the bench in another game.<\/p>\n

The fact that he has trained with the senior team for as long as he has puts him in pole position to get Flick\u2019s nod during pre-season.<\/p>\n

Tommy\u2019s idol is Frenkie de Jong, and he also looks a lot like the Dutch maestro.<\/p>\n

If he can bring even half the quality of his idol to the table, Barcelona have a very special player on their hands<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ebrima Tunkara<\/p>\n

\"EbrimaEbrima Tunkara has impressed Hansi Flick. (Picture credit: Instagram\/@ebrimatunkara10)<\/p>\n

If the first two names were along the lines of what was expected, the most eye-catching name to look forward to is undoubtedly Ebrima Tunkara.<\/p>\n

The 16-year-old forward has been making waves in the youth setup after his performances for Spain Under-17s in the European Championship.<\/p>\n

Tunkara is dynamic, aggressive, can play in multiple positions in attack and is still young enough to be moulded into one in the long run.<\/p>\n

He has already been touted as the next Lamine Yamal in the academy, given the speed at which he is progressing through the ranks, and a pre-season would be an introduction<\/a> to first-team dynamics for him.<\/p>\n

From there on, if he can announce himself like some of the others in recent years, such as Gavi, Lamine and Fermin, the sky is the limit for Ebrima Tunkara in Blaugrana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pre-season at Barcelona is about fitness for the first-team players. It is also about Hansi Flick trying out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35377,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92,222,14863,223,325,8120,7887],"class_list":["post-35376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-news","tag-ebrima-tunkara","tag-fc-barcelona","tag-featured","tag-tommy-marques","tag-xavi-espart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35376","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35376"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35376\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35376"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35376"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35376"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}