Flick’s influence behind Barcelona summer signings becomes increasingly clear | OneFootball

Sporting director Deco and head coach Hansi Flick have formed quite a formidable duo at FC Barcelona. These individuals have been able to work together to assemble a dominant Blaugrana team that has beaten Real Madrid to the La Liga title twice in the last two years, despite the significantly greater financial muscle of the latter club.

Ever since the German coach’s arrival on the Barcelona bench, they have maintained regular contact, and freely discuss their concerns and ideas about the first team, especially those related to new arrivals and departures.

This has remained the case in this summer transfer window as well, but as MARCA has noted, there has still been a change in how the Catalan club has operated in the market this summer. In all the signings made by the club this summer, there is a clear influence of Flick, even though Deco had been the driving force behind the club’s market operations in the last few years.

Signings like Dani Olmo and Pau Victor in 2024 and Joan Garcia, Marcus Rashford, and Roony Bardghji in 2025, and Joao Cancelo in winter 2026, all bore Deco’s stamp, albeit with Flick’s approval.

However, this summer, it has been the German coach who has dictated the direction of the club as far as new signings are concerned. For instance, he asked for Anthony Gordon when the club was looking to exercise the purchase clause on Rashford, and Deco fulfilled the coach’s request. Similarly, Karim Adeyemi, whom Flick knew from his time with the German national team, was also the head coach’s request.

This influence was apparent in another signing, that of Benjamin Kugel as his new fitness coach. Before this appointment, Hansi Flick persuaded Deco to bring significant changes to the fitness department, which have all been implemented by the sporting director.

On the other hand, Flick’s influence was also clear in the operation for Alessandro Bastoni, as he was an attractive target for Deco, but the coach ruled him out. Thus, Barcelona is fully backing Hansi Flick after his two successful seasons, and hopefully, the German coach would repay this trust and build on these successes of the last two seasons in the 2026-27 season.