While some of the players are still on vacation or on international duties, FC Barcelona have started their pre-season since Monday. This is an important opportunity for Xavi to test the mettle of his assembled squad, and he is trying to get them in shape by holding regular training sessions.
According to Mundo Deportivo, there were twenty-six players available to Xavi on the first day of the pre-season, but for the first training session scheduled for Tuesday, there were only 23 players available.
One of the players absent in Tuesday’s session was Clement Lenglet, who has been allowed by the club to resolve his future by 18th July, and he can skip the training sessions until then. The player is in advanced negotiations with Tottenham, but an agreement between Barcelona and the London club is yet to be finalized.
The other two absences in Tuesday’s training session were Inigo Martinez and Alejandro Balde. Both of these players are currently recovering from their injuries and trained apart from the rest of the group and focused only on specific work.
From the first team, Xavi had access to eleven players, including Iñaki Peña, Eric Garcia, Ferran Torres, Marcos Alonso, Pablo Torre, Pedri, Ronald Araujo, Nico González, Sergino Dest, Raphinha, and Sergi Roberto. Twelve players have been called up from the youth team, while the coach still awaits the arrival of Gundogan and some other players who had international duties.
There was a double training session scheduled for Tuesday, and the second session is yet to take place. After Tuesday, the next double training session will take place on Friday. Once Xavi has all the players at his disposal, he would be able to assess the team more clearly, and adopt the strategy for the upcoming season.