FC Barcelona’s Flick Confirms Olmo Bad News But Confirms Huge Comeback

Ahead of FC Barcelona taking on Valencia in its La Liga 2024/2025 season opener on Saturday, head coach Hansi Flick confirmed some bad news regarding his new signing Dani Olmo.

The Euro 2024 winner was signed from RB Leipzig for around $60 million (€55 million) a week ago.

As of yet, though, he still hasn’t made his debut for his boyhood club after being left out of the squad for the 3-0 Joan Gamper Trophy loss to AS Monaco on Monday.

There were hopes Olmo might be registered and cleared to play at the Mestalla, but Flick poured cold water on them in his pre-match press conference on Friday.

“Dani Olmo is not in a good enough physical condition for tomorrow. We want to take care of him. It is important that everyone plays but also avoids injuries. We want everyone to be there and train, without getting injured,” Flick stated.

Confirming that he should have 22-23 first team players available to take on Valencia, Flick didn’t want to be drawn into commenting on registrations or getting beat up about who won’t be available.

“The things we can’t change we don’t think about. There are no excuses or complaints. Things were said. I have had many experiences in the past and I have arrived here with the situation that exists. We focus on tomorrow’s game, we want to play a great match. Tomorrow morning the list of call-ups will be made official,” Flick said.

“I’m satisfied with the squad I have,” he also remarked, at another point of his sitdown with the media.

“This is the most important thing. When I signed my contract with Barca I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I told [Sporting Director] Deco that I’m happy with the team. Furthermore, players are returning little by little.”

One of those players is Pedri, who Flick revealed “will be able to play the second half tomorrow” after recovering from an injury picked up with Spain against Germany ahead of schedule.

Flick said he was “very happy to have Pedri again”, and also see Gavi striving to complete his comeback from an ACL rupture.

“He is working very well but needs time. He’s a great player and I have to thank all the coaches who are around him and are helping him. I don’t want to put pressure on him, he’s 20 years old and we have to take care of him,” Flick insisted about Gavi.