Barcelona 19-year-old starlet set to travel to Asia – player informed in last few hours | OneFootball

FC Barcelona will take off on their pre-season Asia tour tomorrow, where they will be playing three friendly matches – one in Japan and two more in South Korea.

Ahead of the trip, manager Hansi Flick has some key decisions to make with regard to the players that he will take along with him on the tour.

Diego Kochen set to travel

In a surprise development, journalist Alex Pintanel reports that young goalkeeper Diego Kochen is all set to travel with the Barcelona first team to Asia, barring any last-minute surprises.

The 19-year-old shot-stopper was called up to train with the senior team only earlier today – the first time this summer, considering he was with Barça Atletic so far.

Barcelona will be without Marc-Andre ter Stegen for the Asia tour as he is out with a back injury that might need surgery.

Kochen set to travel to Asia. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images)

It still leaves Flick with three goalkeepers in summer signing Joan Garcia, Wojciech Szczesny, and Inaki Pena, who is staring at an uncertain future.

Reports on Tuesday suggested that despite him being likely to leave, Pena would be on the flight to Asia with the Barcelona first team.

Now, it appears that Flick has decided to take Kochen along as well, with the USA shot-stopper being informed of the decision in the last few hours.

Should Pena leave as expected and Ter Stegen get sidelined for an extended period due to surgery, Kochen is expected to take over the mantle of the third-choice goalkeeper in the first team.

So, having him travel with the senior squad for the pre-season tour of Asia makes sense for Barcelona.