Karim Adeyemi Joins FC Barcelona: First Training Under Flick
For more than a week, Karim Adeyemi has been in Barcelona but not really of Barcelona. The deal was done, the photos were ready, the city had met its new winger. The paperwork, though, refused to move at the same pace as the player.
That limbo ended on Thursday.
Unveiled at last, the German forward posed alongside president Joan Laporta, spoke as a FC Barcelona player for the first time, and stepped out of the shadows of “pending documents” into the reality of a new era under Hansi Flick.
From guest to squad member
This morning, the change became tangible.
Shortly before 8:45 a.m., Adeyemi arrived at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper. Same training ground, same route, same doors. Completely different status. This time he walked in not as a visitor waiting for a green light, but as a fully registered member of the first team.
He already knew the faces in the dressing room. He had met his new teammates during his days of enforced waiting in the city. But this was the first time he could actually share the pitch with them, kitted out in full Barça training gear, under the eye of Flick and his staff.
The session marked the start of his adaptation to the German coach’s ideas: intensity without the ball, quick transitions, vertical runs. For Adeyemi, 24, it was also the first step towards building the fitness levels Flick will demand before the season truly begins.
No rush for Europa friendly
Even with that first workout completed, the club will not throw him straight into a game. According to SPORT, Adeyemi is not expected to feature in Barcelona’s behind-closed-doors friendly against CE Europa on Friday evening.
He has only one session in his legs with his new coach. For a player whose game relies on explosiveness and sharp changes of direction, the staff see no reason to gamble in a low-key pre-season run-out.
So while the Primera RFEF side will test Barça’s early rhythm later today, Adeyemi will almost certainly watch from the sidelines, joining the list of absentees that already includes Ronald Araújo, Alejandro Balde and Hafiz Gariba.
On the training pitch earlier in the day, Balde continued to work separately from the main group, still on an individual plan. Araújo also trained alone as he edges back towards full fitness, a careful process for one of the team’s defensive leaders.
England beckons for first impression
If tonight comes too soon, the horizon in England looks far more inviting.
Barcelona’s trip across the Channel offers Adeyemi a more realistic stage to start making his case. On July 31, the team will face Birmingham City in a pre-season friendly, and that match is shaping up as the natural window for his first minutes in blaugrana.
Days after that, Barça will meet Preston North End in another behind-closed-doors encounter. Two games, two very different types of opposition, and two clear chances for Adeyemi to show where he fits in this new-look attack.
For now, the story is simple: the wait for the transfer is over, the first training session is in the books, and the winger has finally stepped into Flick’s world.
The next question is just as clear: how long before he turns that first training stride into a statement performance in a Barcelona shirt?
