Hansi Flick sees only one player as an undisputed starter in Barcelona’s midfield | OneFootball

Barcelona are set to kickstart their 2025/26 campaign tomorrow when they take on RCD Mallorca at San Moix.

The club are coming on the back of an excellent pre-season and a relatively satisfying summer transfer window so far.

However, as Barcelona brace themselves for the season ahead, coach Hansi Flick is facing a huge selection dilemma in the middle of the park.

Only one guaranteed starter in midfield

As reported by Diario AS, Flick’s midfield problem is, in many ways, not so much a problem as much as a blessing.

The German coach, after all, has a stacked midfield right now, with far too many players competing for just one position.

Under the current circumstances, Pedri is the only player who has a guaranteed position in the starting eleven.

Pedri is the guaranteed starter in Barcelona midfield next season (Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images)

Others, including Frenkie de Jong and Gavi, are not guaranteed to feature prominently if they cannot sustain their good form.

In principle, with one of the midfield positions already occupied by Pedri, a host of Barcelona stars will be competing for only two available midfield positions.

The players who are fighting for the other two spots include de Jong, Gavi, Fermin Lopez, Dani Olmo, Marc Casado, Marc Bernal and even Dro.

This is a far cry compared to last season, when de Jong was out of form, Gavi was injured, Olmo was not registered, whereas Fermin had just been returning from international duty.

It was reported earlier that Gavi’s form in pre-season could see him earn a permanent place in Flick’s starting eleven, which in turn could put pressure on de Jong.

But now, the German coach has a major decision to make as he looks to finalise his strongest midfield combination heading into the new campaign.