Hansi Flick is facing a dearth of options in the midfield pivot position early in his stint at FC Barcelona. There was already no reliable option for this position in the Barcelona squad during the last season, and the only natural pivot in the squad, Oriol Romeu, also left in the last summer transfer window.
In such a situation, Flick decided to bet on the youth and played Marc Bernal as his team’s pivot during the first few matches of the season. The youngster really shone whenever he got the chance to play, but was quite unfortunate as this good run of form was cut off unexpectedly with an ACL tear which is going to keep him out of action for the rest of this season.
With Bernal’s injury, it was expected that another Barcelona youngster, Pau Prim, would get the chance to be Flick’s midfield pivot for the upcoming games. However, as SPORT has reported, there have been no reports of Prim being called up to train with the first team, despite him shining whenever he plays for Barcelona Atletic.
One of the reasons for his lack of prominence identified in this report is his contractual situation. Prim’s current contract with Barcelona runs till 2025, and he is yet to reach a renewal agreement with the club.
One of the factors that could be keeping him from reaching an agreement is the player’s continuity with his old representation firm, despite the interest shown by Jorge Mendes and other big firms.
Meanwhile, Prim has consolidated himself as a key player for Barcelona Atletic. He had more of a secondary role in the team last season, but this year, he is one of the starters along with Guille and Unai. He also has a clear role in the team, i.e., that of a positional midfielder who controls the tempo of the game with his one or two-touch passes.