Raphinha Returns to Barça Camp as Flick Aims to Revive Ballon d'Or Aspirations
Raphinha slipped through the doors at St George’s Park on Monday, boots in hand and questions hanging over his fitness, his form and his future impact. FC Barcelona’s pre-season in England has a different edge now. One of Hansi Flick’s most important weapons is finally back in the room.
The Brazilian winger has rejoined the squad after his summer break, linking up with Flick and his staff at the FA’s national training centre as Barça crank up preparations for the new campaign and their La Liga opener against Elche on 23 August.
For the club, his arrival is more than just another returning holidaymaker. It is a test of whether they can recover one of Europe’s most devastating attackers from a year scarred by injuries and a bruising World Cup.
World Cup frustration, club expectations
Raphinha comes in off the back of a deeply frustrating FIFA World Cup with Brazil. He started the first two group matches and looked set for a central role in the Selecão’s campaign. Then it all fell apart in 39 minutes of the second game against Haiti, when a thigh injury to his right leg forced him off.
He never kicked another ball in the tournament. Brazil, stripped of some of their attacking verve, went out in the round of 16 to Norway. For a player who had just climbed into the conversation among the game’s elite, it was a brutal halt.
Barcelona, though, are clear about their stance. They expect him to be fully recovered and ready to work from day one of this camp. No easing in, no excuses. Flick wants intensity, and he knows what Raphinha looks like at full throttle.
No rush into pre-season friendlies
Even so, the club will not throw him straight into the first games they play on English soil. Journalist Nil Sola reports that, as things stand, Raphinha is unlikely to feature in Barça’s first two friendlies: Birmingham City on 31 July and Preston North End on 3 August.
He has only just joined the group. After the muscle problems of the last year and the World Cup setback, the medical and fitness staff will not gamble on minutes in July at the cost of availability in September and beyond.
So the fans in Birmingham and Preston may not see him up close. Flick will accept that trade-off if it means having a fully primed Raphinha when the real season begins.
Flick’s mission: revive a Ballon d'Or-level force
Inside the camp, the objective is crystal clear. Raphinha’s priority is to rediscover the level he hit in the 2024-25 season, when his performances pushed him into the Ballon d'Or conversation. Flick shares that target. In many ways, it defines his attacking blueprint for the new campaign.
During Flick’s first year in charge, the Brazilian produced the best numbers of his career: 34 goals and 26 assists in 57 appearances across all competitions. Those are not just good figures; they are the output of a player operating at the very top of the European game.
With Raphinha on the pitch, Barcelona’s attack carried a different threat. They pressed higher, more aggressively, and broke with sharper edges in transition. Defenders had to respect his pace and his left foot, which opened space for everyone around him.
Then came last season. Two significant hamstring injuries cut deep into his rhythm and his influence. He managed only 33 appearances, still scoring 21 goals, but the sense lingered that Barça were seeing flashes rather than the full show.
For Flick, getting the full show back is non-negotiable.
A tailored plan for a fragile asset
To protect that ambition, Barcelona have built a structure around him. New head of physical preparation Benjamin Kugel has drawn up an individual fitness programme tailored specifically to Raphinha’s body and injury history.
This is not a generic pre-season load. It is a personalised map: when to push, when to hold back, how to build strength in the areas that have failed him, and how to keep his explosiveness without flirting with another breakdown.
The club hope that this approach will keep him on the pitch across the entire campaign and reignite the version of Raphinha who shredded defences two seasons ago. If the plan works, Barça regain a winger who can tilt games on his own and a pressing trigger who sets the tone without the ball.
For now, he runs, stretches, and works under grey English skies at St George’s Park, a Ballon d'Or contender in need of a reset. If Flick and his staff can get him back to that 2024-25 level, Barcelona’s season will look very different – and so will the hierarchy of Europe’s most feared attackers.
