"He has enormous speed and a good first touch. Among his strengths, he particularly stands out in one-on-ones. He is a great forward". This statement by Hansi Flick could be current, but the German coach made it in the summer of 2021, when he called up Karim Adeyemi for the first time and made him debut with the German national team at just 19 years old. At that time, the new blaugrana attacker played for Salzburg – his training had been mostly at Bayern Munich – a club with whom he would begin to establish himself at the elite level, before making the leap to Borussia Dortmund. Flick has known Adeyemi for many years, just as, before signing for Dortmund in 2022 – when City snatched Erling Haaland from the Germans – he had already been in the orbit of the blaugrana technical secretariat.

The women's football transfer market is undergoing a change. Used to signing free agents —that's how Graham Hansen, Ona Batlle, and Lucy Bronze arrived at Barça—, in recent summers all transfer records have been broken. The professionalization of clubs and leagues opens up a new landscape where investment is more necessary than ever to continue competing in Europe. The possibility of signing big stars at zero cost, as happened a summer ago with Laia Aleixandri, is a thing of the past. Now, you have to dig deep into your pockets.

Barça, Ajax and Ter Stegen reached a preliminary agreement at the end of June for the goalkeeper played this season on loan in the Netherlands. But when it came to drafting the contracts, the problems began. The famous small print. First, it was the distribution of the footballer's salary, and then a series of fiscal matters. All of this has been slowing down what seemed to be an imminent loan. Four weeks later, the reality is that Ter Stegen is still in Barcelona and training at the Ciutat Esportiva under Hansi Flick's orders as if he were just another member of the squad.

We are not used to the deployment of citizens in red shirts and Spanish flags in the streets of Barcelona with the relevant ritual chants. And it is shocking when you find yourself in it, even if it is perfectly predictable: it is the afternoon and evening when Spain wins its second Football World Cup. Sporting hegemonies play an important role in the economy of collective passions and often generate clichés that hide social complexity. The absence of a Catalan national team in international competitions has been capitalized by Barça, attributing to itself the role of the national team of Catalonia. With this logic of good and bad guys, the 'culer' religion has taken hold in such a way that it seems that the city (and the country) is its territory. But here it is that one day the Spanish team is proclaimed world champion and you go out into the street and you find groups of citizens with rojigualda flags and cries of patriotic enthusiasm, and your face shows that you don't know where you are. What is happening? Well, simply that societies – and people – are more complex than we think, that economies of desire are convoluted, volatile, and that just as they lead to confrontation, they can also lead to unexpected complicities.

With only one year left on his contract, without a formal renewal offer, with PSG's interest in the background and doubts due to intermittent performance, Ferran Torres was included in the Spanish national team's squad for the 2026 World Cup. Except for the first game, in which he started against Cape Verde, he has been a substitute in the rest. He has always played, but he hadn't scored. And so it went until the final against Argentina. Football history is full of players who score decisive goals when they are not going through a good personal moment. Ferran is the latest example. The forward from Foios broke his bad streak with a goal in the first minute of the second half of extra time. The winning goal. A goal, his first of the tournament, which meant a "great release" after being "heavily criticized throughout the World Cup."}The winning goal. A goal, his first of the tournament, which meant a "great release" after being "heavily criticized throughout the World Cup".

Football, the king of sports and a global business, has the professional sporting aspect and the political identity aspect. It moves a lot of money, large masses of fans, and many illusions. The passion for a club has a strong component of emotional adhesion. Support for a national team also does, with the added political layer. Football awakens passions and sublimes wars: better a competition between young people on the field than a life-or-death clash between soldiers. Hopefully, Ukraine and Russia - or Israel and Palestine - would compete in stadiums with a ball instead of doing so from the trenches with deadly weapons.

Problems for Hansi Flick right on the first day of training for Barça 2026-2027. The German coach already knows that he will not be able to count on Frenkie de Jong during the first months of official competition. Renewed not too long ago until 2029, the Dutch midfielder has a significant injury to his right knee, according to what the newspaper Marca has reported and which ARA has been able to confirm. He has been suffering from joint problems since the World Cup, where he played some matches infiltrated before the elimination of Ronald Koeman's team against Morocco in the round of 16 of the tournament, in the penalty shootout.

Ferran Torres is not an undisputed starter with Spain at the World Cup and has been the subject of memes for his lack of accuracy in front of goal, but Luis de la Fuente trusts him to revolutionize matches that get stuck, as has been seen in the last two knockout stages of the championship. Against Portugal in the round of 16 an excellent assist from him to Mikel Merino was the goal of the win for the red one, and in front of Belgium in the quarterfinals he contributed to the final siege that ended Rudi Garcia's team's resistance. On the way to 27 years old, the age often associated with a footballer's peak, the Valencian is excited about the possibility of being world champion. But at the same time, he knows that, whatever happens against France this Tuesday (9 p.m., La 1 and DAZN) and in a hypothetical final, this summer will be key for his future as a professional.

When Hansi Flick signed for Barça in the summer of 2024, the German coach knew perfectly well that the club's economic situation was delicate and that top-tier signings could not be afforded. A year later, he was greatly disappointed when he learned that he would have to wait another season to be able to strengthen the squad, as delays in the return to Camp Nou conditioned the fair play financier. The third one was the right one and Barça faces a summer without more restrictions than those of its budget. Once Anthony Gordon has been signed for 70 million plus variables, the next target is Karim Adeyemi, a Borussia Dortmund forward, who, if nothing goes wrong, will be a Blaugrana this very week. The German club has already admitted that the footballer is not training and has permission to negotiate his departure.

The intense heatwave crushing Barcelona these days FC Barcelona does not stop the works on the Camp Nou. The tasks these summer days are concentrated on the third tier, built from scratch during recent months, and also on the structure that will support the stadium's roof. It is planned (and assumed, hence the improvement of the fair play of the League) that this third ring reopens in phases during the next season and raises the stadium's capacity to over 100,000 spectators. If the schedule is respected, the installation of the roof will begin next summer, will extend for a minimum of four months and, therefore, will require another exile of the Barça men's first team to Montjuïc, which is the only space with enough capacity to cover the needs of a club that bases a good part of its business model on the exploitation of the ticketing.

Michel Sánchez was key for Marc-André ter Stegen would go to Girona in January. It was well known that Barça was looking for an exit for him and that the goalkeeper did not see himself leaving on loan. But the coach, through the sporting director Quique Cárcel, insisted until he received the go-ahead. It is an unknown what would have happened if Ter Stegen had not been injured and had been able to complete the second half of the season with the Montilivi team. Perhaps they would not have been relegated. The only thing known for sure is that Michel has not lost confidence in the Mönchengladbach goalkeeper, to the point that he has asked for him again to join Ajax, a club he has been coaching since this summer.

Joan Laporta is once again president of Barça. As the Blaugrana statutes dictate, the Barcelona lawyer took office this July 1st after winning the elections held in March, and he did so with an inaugural speech in which he called for the "unity of Barça followers" and promised an "exciting" future with the consolidation of the project his board began in 2021. His term ends on June 30, 2031.

Ansu Fati was baptized as the heir because he was considered the natural successor to Leo Messi. Fast, skillful, cunning, a goalscorer... he had all the qualities to be Barça's new star. So much so that, with the departure of the Rosario forward, Ansu went on to wear the number 10 on his shirt. He seemed like a natural successor. But this fairy tale began to go wrong on November 7, 2020, when he tore his meniscus in a league match against Betis. A ordeal began that would lead him to undergo surgery up to four times and a slow and unsatisfactory recovery. Ansu would never be the same again. This June 30, he has ceased to be a Barça player for all intents and purposes.

That summer of 2010 when Sandro Rosell said that the Camp Nou needed "paint and plaster" seems very far away. During the electoral campaign, he rejected the Foster project and considered it an excessive investment. But a few days after winning the elections, a small group of stadium workers took him aside, him and vice-president Josep Maria Bartomeu, to show them the deficiencies of a coliseum that was already more than half a century old. They were convinced that an integral reform was necessary. That visit was the embryo of Espai Barça, which four years later resulted in a project approved by the members in a referendum. But in 2014 it had a budget of 600 million euros. Today, with the works underway, the credit of 1.5 billion has already been exhausted and another one of between 350 and 450 million will be needed to finish the stadium completely.

Before renewing his contract with Barça until 2028, Hansi Flick made two things very clear. First, he demanded a paradigm shift in physical preparation, something that has been materialized with the departure of Julio Tous and two of his trusted professionals. And, secondly, he made it clear that to raise his team's performance in the Champions League, it was imperative to sign two forwards at their peak. "We need two," he stressed in a pool informal with journalists a few weeks ago. The coach expects that with the departure of veteran Robert Lewandowski, the attacking front needs to be reinforced with a top-level footballer, but he also observes an excessive dependence on Lamine Yamal, especially when essential players like Raphinha Dias are out for almost three months due to injury.

The Barça player, who arrived at the World Cup expecting to start, became injured during the second match and has been the subject of various journalistic reports published in Brazil. Newspapers report that the player has a serious family problem, as his own father, Rafael Bellolli, allegedly deceived him to keep a large part of his fortune. Former international player Vampeta was one of the first to explain, two days ago, that Raphinha had told his national teammates that he had financial problems. And all because of his father.

Alexia Putellas will play next season at Michele Kang's magnate London City. The ex-Barça player —whose contract ends next June 30— will try her luck in the English league after fourteen seasons wearing the Barça jersey. There she will meet again with Jana Fernández, Lucía Corrales, María Pérez and Mapi León, who will also make the same journey as Alexia this summer.

One more season, Barça's season ticket holders will have to live with the provisional situation. The Camp Nou is not yet finished and, with 60,000 seats available, only a part of the season ticket holders can fit in the stadium. Therefore, provisional passes are maintained and season tickets remain on hold. However, the prices do change, being between 30% and 35% more expensive than last season. The club announced this to its members this Thursday, precisely on the day the process to renew these passes for the 2026/27 season began.

Luis de la Fuente's Spanish team faces its first major challenge of the 2026 World Cup next Saturday: they will face the Uruguay team. And although the sky blue has not gone beyond the draw against Saudi Arabia (1-1) nor against the irreductible selection of Cape Verde (2-2), continues to be one of the footballing powers of the Southern Cone. Thus, it is an opportunity for the red one continue improving and take first place in a group H where anything can happen. Facing this third group stage match, Luis de la Fuente must choose between continuing to distribute minutes or maintaining the block that worked so well for him on Sunday against Saudi Arabia.

Despite Miguel Ángel Gil Marín breaking the silence to assure that Julián Álvarez is not for sale, the reality is that both the CEO of Atlético de Madrid and a good part of the employees in the offices of the mattress club are convinced that it is highly probable that the forward will leave the club this summer. Could he stay? Yes, if no agreement is finally reached with the interested clubs, but El Aranya wants to leave and Apollo, the investment fund that recently controls the entity, is already willing to do business with the Argentine footballer. The problem is the destination. Because Julián wants to play for Barça, a club he has dreamed of since he was little. However, the mattress executives do not want to strengthen a direct rival in the fight for the League, Cup, and Super Cup titles. They prefer PSG. Or Arsenal, which would be willing to make an exchange offering money and with the Swede Viktor Gyökeres as a bargaining chip. However it ends, everyone is clear that the saga will be long and will have plot twists.