Barcelona coach does not see Gundogan as a starter – report

For FC Barcelona, the upcoming season will bring some major changes to the team. With the appointment of new head coach Hansi Flick, the team may be restructured in a tactical sense. The German coach has his own ideas for Barcelona, and those are the ones that will be implemented.

Formerly a coach for Bayern Munich, Hansi Flick achieved great success with his system over in Munich. As per many sources, that is exactly the same system that he hopes to bring to FC Barcelona, that being his trusted 4-2-3-1, in which he makes use of a double pivot and more attacking midfielders.

Unfortunately, that means that not every Barcelona player will fit each position properly. According to Mundo Deportivo, the player who will likely end up being sacrificed moving forward this season could be 33-year-old German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan.

Despite his top-level performances in the Euros, it would appear that Hansi Flick only sees Gundogan as someone who can occupy the role of the attacking midfielder behind the striker. Unfortunately for the German midfielder, Flick values Pedri more in that position and sees Gundogan as a secondary alternative, as per MD.

By taking into consideration the ages of both players, Flick values Pedri’s youth and does not want to deploy another veteran behind 36-year-old Robert Lewandowski, who would be the team’s primary spearhead. Furthermore, Flick wants more physical profiles in the double pivot, with the likes of Andreas Christensen, Frenkie De Jong, and Gavi being more adequate profiles.

That puts Gundogan at an automatic disadvantage. However, while it is true that Pedri would be in front of the German in the pecking order at Barcelona, that does not mean that both of them cannot be deployed simultaneously as per the requirements of the match.