“We have to improve the quality and ability of this team; that is the most important thing for me.” Hansi Flick was as ambitious as he was pleased with his signing as Barça coach in an interview with the club’s corporate television channel Barça One. The German coach even specified that, after evaluating the players that make up the Barça squad, “it is true that you may need a player who can win a match,” without specifying the name or the position, aware in any case that Barcelona has begun the process of trying to sign Nico Williams and does not rule out Dani Olmo either. Flick’s ambitions, however, require an immediate capitalisation of Barça and, at the moment, none of the different operations launched by Joan Laporta’s board have yet been completed.
The decision to go for Lewandowski is, however, underlined when one takes into account that he is a player who has been well known to Flick since they were together at Bayern. “He has what I have missed in training and that is that he scores goals. He doesn’t need many chances to do so,” said the coach, who signed a contract on 29 May, started training on 10 July and will be presented on Thursday at the 1899 Auditorium. The German coach has been as empathetic as he is demanding and is especially happy about his relationship with sporting director Deco. The workload is high and professionalism is the order of the day with Flick, who is obsessed with punctuality — “although I am not in favour of issuing fines” — and discipline: “I want absolute quality, intensity and concentration from the first minute.”
The Barça coach is in favour of his team pressing in a compact way on the opposition’s half, not giving away spaces, using the figure of a defensive midfielder and attacking with two wingers “wide and focused on the goal”, a declaration of intent that he has already applied in Germany and which is also inspired by Barcelona’s game: “My philosophy and that of Barça are very similar because I studied the Dutch school and Cruyff a lot.” He also praised Guardiola – “I love his style of play” – and the school of La Masia, especially the youngsters he works with in the absence of international players and injured players such as Pedri, De Jong and Araujo, who will be out for about four months after undergoing surgery on the hamstring of his right leg in Finland.
“Normally, when the experienced players are out and you call up the youngsters, the quality of training drops; here it is the opposite. It is very nice to see how the youngsters play and improve, and in any case they need to be developed,” said Flick. “I like the action, with and without the ball,” he concluded in the interview given to the club’s television. “We have a great team.” “Real Madrid?” he asked. “It is Real Madrid, but there are only two games; there are many more and each one of them is a challenge, one more step that allows us to advance” in the League.
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