Flick accepts Barça transfer woe on deadline day

Hansi Flick accepts that Barcelona‘s financial situation will prevent them from signing a replacement for the injured Marc Bernal as the transfer window looks set to close without any further additions at the Catalan club.

Barça have signed Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor this summer but ideally would also have brought in a holding midfielder, a left winger and another defender if they could do so while complying with LaLiga‘s financial regulations.

However, after failing with an attempt to hijack RB Salzburg’s move for Liverpool midfielder Stefan Bajčetić, Barça coach Flick insists he is happy with the squad he has at his disposal despite losing Bernal for the season to a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.

“It is like it is,” the German said in a news conference on Friday. “I know what the [situation] is at Barça. I have to accept these things and I do.

“I know [there are] a lot of rumours in the football world, but at the moment it’s like it is. We have a team, 11 players for [Saturday against Real Valladolid], five changes. It’s enough players.

“I am happy with the team now. Against Rayo [Vallecano], Marc Bernal was fantastic, so we will miss him. It was unbelievable how he played our idea at 17 years old.

“When I saw the last three matches back in total, Marc, what he was doing was really fantastic. Now we have to replace him. This is with the team here, though, and I am happy with that.”

Bernal impressed Flick in preseason and is one of three 17-year-olds to have started Barça’s first three LaLiga matches — wins against Valencia, Athletic Club and Rayo — along with Pau Cubarsí and Lamine Yamal.

Flick says he is assessing two options to replace him at the base of Barça’s midfield against Valladolid at the Olympic Stadium this weekend.

“We have Marc Casadó and also Eric [García] can play this position,” he added. “Eric is more a defender, but he also played midfield in matches when he came on for us, also in training and he did really good.”

Despite a complicated transfer window, Barça have made an encouraging start to the new campaign under Flick.

They are the only team to have won all three of their matches so far, while preseason title favourites Real Madrid, who added Kylian Mbappé to their squad in the summer, have already dropped points with draws against Mallorca and Las Palmas.

“It will be a long season and I don’t care about the situation,” Flick said when asked about Madrid’s below-par start. “I focus on our team, on Barça, this is the important thing.

“We have to do our job, we did it the last three matches and hopefully we do it tomorrow. We had one day off on Thursday and now we prepare for Valladolid. The players are fresh and looking good in training.”

Flick has earned a lot of praise for Barça’s start to the season, their best since 2018-19, but he says performances and results are being fuelled by the players, not him.

“We have a special atmosphere in this team,” he said. “The mentality is really good. I love these players, also the Spanish players I work with in Munich, they’re really professional and their attitude is unbelievably good, I love this.

“What I can see after the win in Rayo and the injury to Marc Bernal, how they support him, how close they are with him. This makes me very proud. This is very important for a team to act like this.

“The attitude of the team, mentality they have, it’s fantastic. I like this. You can only win something if you have this mentality. As a group, you are together as a unit, in defence, attack, but also when other things arrive. This is what I can feel.”