Hansi Flick has discovered another young pearl for Barcelona

Hansi Flick has only been at Barcelona for a few months now but has completely bought into the idea and tradition of the club to back young talent, irrespective of their age.

It led to opportunities for the likes of Toni Fernandez, Guille Fernandez, Quim Junyent, and Marc Bernal, among several others, in pre-season, with the latter already establishing himself in the first-team setup and even starting each of three La Liga games so far.

Marc Casado is finally getting chances in the senior setup while the likes of Sergi Dominguez and Andres Cuenca are in and around the squad as well.

Gerard Martin gets his big chance

Another player who seems to have benefitted greatly under Hansi Flick is young left-back Gerard Martin.

Signed from UE Cornella only last summer as a reinforcement for Barça Atletic, the Spaniard was a regular fixture in Rafa Marquez’s side during the 2023/24 season.

Impressed by what he saw, Flick handed the youngster an opportunity in pre-season and he has not looked back since, as he made his first start for Barcelona last night against Rayo Vallecano.

Martin started for Flick in the pre-season games against Manchester City and AC Milan and got minutes against Real Madrid as well as the Joan Gamper Trophy match vs AS Monaco.

The 22-year-old made the most of his chances, which led to his official first-team debut in the La Liga opener against Valencia when he came off the bench for Alejandro Balde. Martin stepped also got minutes in the game against Athletic Club as well.

On Tuesday night, the former Cornella man’s big moment finally arrived as he made his first-ever start for Barcelona, starting at left-back ahead of Balde against Rayo Vallecano.

The fact that Flick trusted Martin in a crucial game – Barça had won none of their previous three matches at Vallecas before last night – shows the confidence that the manager has in the 22-year-old.

Martin happy with his first start

“I’m very happy for the win. I hope to continue as a starter,” Martin told BarçaOne after the game.

“I didn’t know I was going to start at first, so I got really excited and happy when they told me,” he added.

On the performance of the team on the night, the 22-year-old remarked: “Everything went really quickly, but I’m very happy. Flick told us to be more intense than them, to be faster with the ball.”

The youngster did not have the best of performances on the night, although being paired with Ferran Torres on the left flank did not help matters.

But it is clear that Flick places a lot of faith in him and with time, he will improve and provide proper competition for Balde in the left-back slot.