![\"Athletic](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2217009673.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Photo by Ion Alcoba Beitia\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Frenkie\u2019s career is perhaps even more impressive when you consider he has had five Barcelona coaches, and has been an undisputed starter throughout. Under Hansi Flick, the question will be whether he can keep that streak going. At the moment, it looks like the double pivot is his and Pedri\u2019s to lose.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s good to be a forward under Hansi Flick. In his 4-2-3-1 formation, he tends to favor using a fourth forward to play behind the striker. <\/p>\n
That means we could see a rotation for those four positions of Raphinha, Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski, Marcus Rashford, Dani Olmo, and Ferran Torres. I\u2019d rather be any of those guys than one of the midfielders on the outside looking in.<\/p>\n
In particular, this season will be a big challenge for Gavi, Ferm\u00edn L\u00f3pez, and Marc Casad\u00f3.<\/p>\n
![\"FC](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2215308893.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Photo by Joan Valls\/Urbanandsport\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n
From what we saw a year ago, Gavi and Marc Casad\u00f3 will be asked to compete with Marc Bernal, and maybe Eric Garcia, in the midfield pecking order. It will be very difficult, however, to knock off Pedri and Frenkie de Jong.<\/p>\n
Ferm\u00edn L\u00f3pez will compete with the forwards for one of the more advanced positions. <\/p>\n
This will be a monumental task, especially considering that, although Flick rates them as players, the writing seems to be on the wall that they are not first, or maybe even second choices.<\/p>\n
That makes you wonder if it\u2019s in the best interest of all these midfielders to remain in Barcelona.<\/p>\n
![\"FC](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2215746283.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Photo by Pablo Rodriguez\/Quality Sport Images\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
We don\u2019t know the conversations that Flick has had with his players. By all accounts, there is no drama. Everyone wants to stay, and they are betting on themselves to earn playing time on merit.<\/p>\n
But the math for minutes will be cruel.<\/p>\n
Bad luck could also factor in as Flick will be required to make tough choices.<\/p>\n
Depth is a blessing. It\u2019s a good problem to have. But we are not talking about players who are just breaking in from the academy. Gavi and Ferm\u00edn L\u00f3pez are big names. Marc Casad\u00f3 is also at a critical point in his career path. They are top talents who have already proven themselves.<\/p>\n
![\"FC](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2208193861.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Photo by Joan Valls\/Urbanandsport\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/p>\n
It\u2019s anyone\u2019s guess how Flick will manage his team selection in the early going. <\/p>\n
Playing with a sense of urgency to prove yourself is good, so long as it doesn\u2019t turn into desperation. <\/p>\n
It will be intriguing to see how the players perform under such conditions, and how the coach evaluates them, and manages expectations for the betterment of the team.<\/p>\n
Winning games will buy time and patience. An elegant solution if it works.<\/p>\n
Perhaps that\u2019s the very thing Flick is aiming for. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s one thing to break into the Barcelona first team, and quite another to make a career of…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":84304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[190,931,5350,57169,1394,1386,1396,1395,1397,2563,57172,56699,57170,204,48734,35739,57168,39952,3253,1539,57171,5950,221,62,448,13050,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-84303","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-a","9":"tag-and","10":"tag-at","11":"tag-awaits","12":"tag-barca","13":"tag-barcelona","14":"tag-barcelona-la-liga","15":"tag-blaugranes","16":"tag-cant-del-blog-barcelona-opinion","17":"tag-career","18":"tag-casad","19":"tag-challenge","20":"tag-ferm","21":"tag-front-page","22":"tag-gavi","23":"tag-l","24":"tag-lifetime","25":"tag-marc","26":"tag-n","27":"tag-of","28":"tag-pez","29":"tag-season","30":"tag-soccer","31":"tag-sports","32":"tag-the","33":"tag-this","34":"tag-united-states","35":"tag-unitedstates","36":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114899217768438245","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}