Hansi Flick could not quite shake the transfer talk swirling around Camp Nou, even in the afterglow of a comfortable preseason win. Asked about it after Barcelona's 5-2 defeat of FC Basel in Switzerland on Sunday, the head coach admitted there might still be a gap to fill. "It could be that we're missing something, we'll see during the week," ONE quoted him as saying.
The question was prompted directly by reports linking Barcelona to two significant names this summer: Manchester City's Rodri and Atlético Madrid's Julián Álvarez, both the subject of persistent speculation in the Spanish press. Flick's answer stopped short of confirming anything was close, but it did nothing to dampen the sense that Barcelona's business is not yet finished.
He was careful, though, not to sound alarmed about his group's readiness on the pitch itself. "There is intensity and quality in training," Flick said, according to ONE, framing the issue less as a talent shortfall and more as a squad still digesting a busy summer of arrivals. "There are many players who recently joined us and we need to connect them," he added.
That process of integration was on full display in Basel. Barcelona were rarely troubled at St. Jakob-Park, playing with the same fluid, positionally flexible attack that carried them to the La Liga title last season, and the 5-2 scoreline offered a reminder of the depth Flick now has to manage across his squad.
The Álvarez links are not new. Barcelona's coach has previously pushed the club not to give up on the Argentine striker, described in other reporting as wanting "one last push" to get a deal for the World Cup winner over the line, with Álvarez said to have made his own preference to leave Atlético clear to manager Diego Simeone.
Rodri's name has circulated in the same conversations, part of the broader question marks Flick was fielding after full time in Switzerland - a sign that, whatever business Barcelona have already done this summer, the club's coach is not treating the squad-building process as closed.
Sunday's friendly was Barcelona's penultimate test before the competitive season begins in earnest. Next up is a historic occasion: the Joan Gamper Trophy against Egypt's Al Ahly at Camp Nou on Wednesday, August 19, marking the first time an African club has been invited to the traditional curtain-raiser and the stadium's first hosting of the fixture since its reopening.
Barcelona's first competitive fixture of the 2026/27 season follows four days later, away to Elche on Sunday, August 23. It is technically round two of the La Liga calendar - Barcelona's original Matchday 1 fixture against Athletic Club was pushed back to accommodate the club's heavy contingent of World Cup finalists, leaving the Elche trip as the campaign's true kickoff.
Flick delivered a domestic treble of La Liga, Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup in his first season in charge in 2024/25, and his message after Basel suggested a coach comfortable with his group's habits but still watching the market closely. Whether that translates into a fresh arrival should become clear, in his own words, sometime "during the week."
