After playing their first pre-season game against the fifth-tier Spanish club UE Olot this Wednesday (13th July), the Spanish La Liga giants Barcelona will travel to the US for four pre-season games. Barca Head Coach Xavier Hernandez has clarified which players are not the parts of his plan for the upcoming season (2022/23).
In the upcoming US tour, Barcelona will play against MLS team Inter Miami (19th July), native arch-rivals Real Madrid (23rd July), Italian Serie A giants Juventus (26th July) and another MLS team New York Red Bulls (30th July).
Barcelona’s discarded players
The Head Coach Xavi and Barcelona are desperate to start a new and fresh era for the club from this season. Recently, MARCA reported that the Barca legend hasn’t included Samuel Umtiti, Oscar Mingueza, Riqui Puig and Martin Braithwaite for the upcoming US tour. Though all of them have contracts with the club, Xavi and the club have reportedly clarified to them that they are not in their plan for the new season.
Around 24 hours before their match against UE Olot, Barcelona announced their 21-member squad for the game. While several regular Barca players have been named in this squad, all these four players are missing from the squad.
This 21-member Barca squad for the UE Olot is Ter Stegen, Dest, Mika Marmol, Kessie, Pjanic, Collado, Pedri, Ansu Fati, Ez Abde, Fabio Blanco, Inaki Pena, Nico, Chadi, Pablo Torre, Aubameyang, Balde, Casado, Alex Valle, I. Akhomach, Aranda, and Arnau Casas.
Current situation for the discarded players
Defenders Samuel Umtiti and Oscar Mingueza were reportedly very close to joining the French Ligue 1 club Rennes and Italian Serie A club Monza respectively. However, both deals reportedly failed to be finalized. While Umtiti’s present contract with the Catalan club will run till 2026 summer, Mingueza has one more season left in his contract, just like the central midfielder Riqui Puig.
On the other hand, centre-forward Martin Braithwaite has a contract with Barca till 2024 summer.
According to some recent media reports, Oscar Mingueza, Riqui Puig and Martin Braithwaite have just returned to the club’s pre-season training despite knowing their present fate in the club.
Barca’s Other issues
Barcelona have more doubtful players ahead of the beginning of the upcoming season. Brazilian goalkeeper Neto, Bosnian midfielder Miralem Pjanic, and Dutch forward Memphis Depay are doubtful about their Barca future along with the Dutch midfielder Frenkie de Jong.
