Birmingham City are pencilled in to play Barcelona in pre-season friendly
Birmingham City are pencilled in to play Barcelona in pre-season friendly
While Birmingham City fans may be excited at the prospect of a pre-season friendly against Barcelona this year, they should temper that with an unwanted dose of reality.
Why? Because with the World Cup also happening this summer, it may be a reduced Barcelona squad that head to England in July.
A report in Spain today explained that Barcelona are planning a two-week trip to England this summer, where they’ll spend time at England’s St George’s Park. That will precede a friendly in Nairobi and then another in Morocco.
The plan is to spend time at St George’s from July 27th to August 8th. And it will include a pre-season friendly against Birmingham City during the first few days of the training camp.
The Blues, according to Mundo Deportivo, have been chosen due to their proximity to St George’s Park.
Birmingham City excitement
The news has, naturally, caused plenty of excitement at Birmingham City. Their fans are looking forward to the arrival of the Catalan giants. But sadly, it may be a slightly limited Barcelona squad who make the trip thanks to the World Cup.
For example, Lamine Yamal, Pedri, Pau Cubarsi, Fermin Lopez, Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres are all likely to be in Spain’s squad.
Joan Garcia could also been one of the goalkeeping options while Alejandro Balde, Eric Garcia, Marc Casado and Gavi could all get the nod as well.
Frenkie De Jong will also be in the Netherland squad, while Jules Koundé should in the French squad as well. João Cancelo is also a regular for Portugal, and Marcus Rashford is likely to be in England’s squad. Raphinha will also be in Brazil’s squad as well.
Who will be in the squad?
So, that would leave Wojciech Szczęsny and Diego Kochen in goal, Andreas Christensen and Gerard Martin in defence.
Marc Bernal should be available, and Robert Lewandowski up front. But the latter’s contract expires this summer, and the 37-year-old has been heavily linked with a departure.
Indeed, his agent is meeting Barcelona this week for talks. Recent days have seen the Catalan media leaning more towards a Lewandowski stay than previously. There are fair chance he’s going to be the biggest star on display.
Various players could return from loan deals as well, such as Hector Fort, Inaki Pena and Ansu Fati. But that remains to be seen.
Now, obviously the World Cup ends on July 19th, so the aforementioned absentees won’t be at the tournament at that point. But the trip to England is only eight days after the final. So, if Spain, who are among the favourites, were to make it that far, then a large contingent would be absent.
Of course, it’s just speculation at this moment in time. But Birmingham City fans may want to temper any expectations of seeing the full, current Barcelona squad at St. Andrew’s.