Barcelona seeking more stick than carrot from Hansi Flick

Barcelona have gone outside of their usual pool of coaches to appoint Hansi Flick this summer, after sacking Xavi Hernandez two days before the end of the season. Just the third coach in the last 20 years not to have had previous experience of the club, the Blaugrana are hoping he can impose some discipline.

According to Marca, Barcelona’s hierarchy were not impressed with the fitness of the team under Xavi, something Joan Laporta mentioned in his interview with the club media. Physiotherapist Raul Martinez has been brought in, and fitness coach Julio Tous is also expected to arrive, but as a general rule, they expect Flick to push the squad harder.

They are hoping his direct approach with his players, containing both empathy and blunt honesty, can extract more out of a side that they feel Xavi struggled to impose discipline on. Flick is not afraid of enforcing punishments or coming down on players that step out of line.

In addition to their usual training sessions in the morning, players will now be required to work out in the afternoon at the club facilities, and diets will be monitored much more closely.

🚨 CONFIRMED: Guido Rodríguez to Barça is practically OFF. @MatteMoretto 🏁

— barcacentre (@barcacentre) June 5, 2024

Far from being an authoritarian figure though, Flick is yet to contact the majority of his squad, save for the players he crossed paths with at the Ciutat Esportiva on the day of his presentation, namely Gavi, Julian Araujo, Frenkie de Jong and Alejandro Balde. Sport say that he is waiting until July to speak with his players, as he wants to continue learning about their qualities, preferences and personalities first.

During his first conversations with them, Flick wants the players to feel as if he has an ‘exhaustive’ knowledge of them, explaining the areas in which he wants improvement, the talents he wants to exploit and his expectations of them. He will also speak better Spanish then too, which is also the reason his presentation has been delayed.

According to separate reports, Barcelona are set to bring in Heiko Westermann to aid Flick, who speaks Spanish alongside his native German, and can function as a go-between. The 59-year-old has also supposedly been learning Spanish since February, but clearly feels he needs more practice.