The most Catalan Barça of the century is Flick's.

BarcelonaBarça heads into the first international break with a perfect record. Under Hans-Dieter Flick, the Blaugrana have won all four of their matches and hold a four-point lead in the standings over Atlético Madrid and Villarreal, their closest rivals. This impressive run culminated on Saturday with a brilliant and resounding victory against Valladolid by 7-0.

With an excellent Raphinha (he made his first hat trick), the team performed at a high level the day after it was known that The club, affected by a very deep economic crisis, He couldn't make any more signings to strengthen the squad. Saturday's performance was the best possible consolation for Joan Laporta, who will face a post-match press conference on Tuesday as the sole leader of La Liga—a conference that would have been much more challenging had the ball not gone in.

The difficulty in registering new signings and the order to cut salaries too drastically has historical consequences. The first is that, based on the current squad composition, and at least until the FIFA transfer window reopens, it can be concluded that Flick's Barça has the fewest foreign players since the 1995-1996 season, that is, since the implementation of the landmark Bosman ruling, which established the principle of EU citizenship.

Ter Stegen, Kounde, Araujo, Christensen, De Jong, Raphinha and Lewandowski are the only players from the current squad roster who were not born in Spain (Ansu Fati wasn't either, but he has Spanish nationality). With seven foreign players, Barcelona has the third fewest in the entire league. Only Athletic Club (for obvious reasons) and Osasuna have more. At the other end of the spectrum is Real Madrid, which has 17 foreign players and only five Spaniards. These figures are also historic.

Of the 18 players eligible for the Spanish national team at Barça, 11 are Catalan, a virtually unprecedented situation in the 21st century. Since the 2000-2001 season, the only times the Blaugrana had fielded 11 Catalan players in their starting lineup were in the 2013-2014 season, under Tata Martino, and in 2021-2022, with Ronald Koeman and later Xavi Hernández at the helm. In both cases, however, one factor puts Flick's current team ahead in the ranking: the number of Catalan players who featured in the first four La Liga matches.

While Martino gave six Catalan players minutes at the start of the season, Koeman had seven. Flick, in just four matches, has already given ten. Marc Bernal, who was seriously injured in Vallecas. Only Héctor Fort, who debuted last year under Xavi and is expected to provide cover for Koundé at right-back, didn't get any playing time. If there are injuries, which there will be, the number can only continue to rise from 11 upwards. There are young players from La Masia waiting for their turn.

The youngest team in the entire league is Barça

Another indicator that places the current Barça at the forefront in terms of Catalan identity in the 21st century is the number of players born in Catalonia who feature in the starting lineup. In the squads analyzed since 2000, there have only been five or more Catalans in the most frequently used eleven five times: between 2010 and 2014 – Valdés, Puyol, Piqué, Alba, Busquets, Xavi, and Cesc – and now. It's true that the arrivals of Gavi, De Jong, Araujo, and Christensen, currently injured, could change things as the season progresses, but in the short term, it will be very common to see Cubarsí, Balde, Casadó, Olmo, and Lamine Yamal in the same starting eleven. This is what happens when you have up to 17 players in the first-team setup with a history at La Masia or Barça Atlètic. Flick is making a virtue of necessity, and this is also reflected in the average age of the entire squad. With the transfer window closed, and according to data from the specialized website Transfermarkt, Barça has the youngest team in the entire league. The average age of its players is 23.4 years, more than one year younger than the next team in the ranking, Real Sociedad (24.5). At the bottom of this ranking are Rayo Vallecano, with a squad averaging almost 29 years, and Atlético de Madrid (28.0). The oldest Catalan team is Girona (27.1), while Mbappé's Real Madrid has an average age of 26.5.