Barcelona has so far finished three practice games against Nástic (3-1), Girona (3-1) and Elche (1-0). During those friendly games, about nine players didn’t come into action and AS writes that they are part of a twelve-strong list of players that coach Ronald Koeman won’t need next season with the Catalans. Besides the nines, the talents Riqui Puig, Carles Aleñá and Pedri are also on this list: they are allowed to leave Barcelona this summer on a rental basis.

Arturo Vidal, Luis Suárez, Matheus Fernandes, Samuel Umtiti, Juan Miranda, Oriol Busquets, Rafinha Alcántara, Moussa Wagué and Jean Clair Todibo did not appear in the first three practice matches won and do not appear in Koeman’s plans. Vidal is on his way to Internazionale and will most likely leave Barcelona at very short notice. It has also been clear for some time that Suárez does not appear in Koeman’s plans and the Uruguayan striker seemed on his way to Juventus, but Fabio Paratici, sports director of la Vecchia Signorahas definitively ruled out his arrival.

Koeman made one mistake in the first month: ‘Could cause him a lot of trouble’.

Soccer zone took stock last week after the first month of Ronald Koeman at Barcelona.Read article

“Suárez can be definitively deleted, because he can’t get his Italian passport until after the transfer deadline. We have evaluated the possibility of bringing him in, also because he was working on an Italian passport. It is not possible, so it has never really been close”, says Paratici in conversation with Sky Italia. L’Équipe already reported on Sunday that Todibo was on the nomination to leave, after he had already been rented out to Schalke 04 for the past six months. Also compatriot Umtiti, taken over from Olympique Lyon for 25 million euros in 2016, is on the ‘black list’ of Koeman.

Fernandes only arrived at Barcelona this summer, while Miranda (at Schalke 04), Busquets (at FC Twente), Rafinha (at Celta de Vigo) and Wagué (at OGC Nice) already played on a rental basis elsewhere in the past season. Besides the talents Puig, Aleñá and Pedri, Nélson Semedo can also be counted among the players who are allowed to leave. According to AS However, the approaching departure of the Portuguese wingman to the Premier League has mainly to do with economic rather than sporting reasons.

At the same time, based on the first three practice matches, the Spanish sports newspaper states that Koeman has designated six players as ‘essential’ for his project: Marc-André Ter Stegen, Sergi Roberto, Gerard Piqué, Jordi Alba, Frenkie de Jong and Leo Messi. It is also concluded that Philippe Coutinho, leased to Bayern Munich last season, is in good shape with the new trainer of Barcelona, as well as Trincão, who came over from SC Braga, and 21-year-old Ronald Araujo.