With Hansi Flick now officially appointed as Barcelona’s new manager, the new era can now begin at the Estadi Olimpic. This will allow several players to re-evaluate their place in the squad starting from this summer, and one of those whose status will increase if full-back Alejandro Balde.
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Balde has emerged as the starting left-back over the last couple of seasons, and under Flick, he is to be considered as an indispensable player, as per MD. The German coach sees Balde as playing the same role that Alphonso Davies grew into brilliantly during his first years as a Bayern Munich player.
🚨 Hansi Flick hopes that Balde will be the Davies during the coach's time at Bayern Munich. @ffpolo 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/2WKju7A5bU
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) May 31, 2024
Davies, who has been strongly linked with a move to Real Madrid this summer, developed into the best left-back in the world during Flick’s tenure at Bayern, and Barcelona will hope that Balde can follow in the footsteps of the Canadian.
Balde will be a nailed-on starter for Barcelona next season, and he will hope for better fortunes than he got in the 2023-24 campaign, which was ended prematurely for him when he tore his hamstring in January. His recovery from that injury is in its final stages now, so he will be back in time for pre-season.
It’s a good vision but, Hansi Flick will do well to bring back Alex Valle to be Balde’s backup and understudy.