With the international break coming to a close, Barcelona turn their attention back to club football. For now, several stars remain away from the Catalan capital due to their international commitments. However, this has not stopped progress continuing for those not with them.
FC Barcelona continues to prepare day by day as they eagerly await the resumption of their campaign. Yesterday, Barcelona held their latest training session under Xavi Hernandez, and the remaining first-team players were joined by several starlets of the subsidiary.
Faith in Youth
As highlighted by Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo, a great number of subsidiary talents were invited. These included the likes of Mamadou Fall, Noah Darvich, Iker Goujon, Dani Rodriguez, and Sergi Dominguez.
All the invited players are promising youngsters of the subsidiary. Noah Darvich and Mamadou Fall arrived this summer from Freiburg and Los Angeles FC respectively. Interestingly, the German also made The Guardian’s list of the 60 most promising youngsters born in 2006.
Veterans help out
The youngsters were joined by the other Barcelona first-team players who were not called up for any international duties. These primarily included Spanish players Inigo Martinez, Sergi Roberto, Inaki Pena, Oriol Romeu, and Marcos Alonso. Not called up by Luis de la Fuente, they have continued working with Xavi and the other subsidiary talents.
Bilbao awaits
Within a few days, the international players will also start returning. Gavi and Ferran Torres are expected to return soon as well as Portuguese stars Joao Felix and Joao Cancelo. Other stars such as Ilkay Gundogan, Marc Andre Ter Stegen, Fermin Lopez, Andreas Christensen, and Ronald Araujo are expected to be back later.
Once the entirety of the first team comes back, Barcelona can then formalize their squad to take on Athletic Bilbao. Other injured players will also begin to recover and return, with Pedri and Lamine Yamal expected to be among the earliest to return.
