Barca eye Asia tour with Ter Stegen's status unclear

Barcelona's pre-season is now underway. Hansi Flick has been at the helm for several days, with his sights set on the start of the 2025-26 campaign. On Thursday, the Catalan side completed another training session, just a week away from their first challenge of the year, focusing primarily on physical conditioning.

Next Thursday, the team will head to South Korea and Japan to begin their Asian tour. The German coach will take a total of 25-26 players, although he is currently working with 36 in training. The big question mark, of course, is the presence of Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

The goalkeeper again trained away from the group for the fourth consecutive day, and he did not take to the pitch at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper with his team-mates during Thursday's morning session. According to the club, the German keeper is recovering from "physical discomfort", reportedly in his back, although Barcelona have not provided any medical report in this regard.

The future of Ter Stegen, who is also the team's captain, is uncertain following the signing of Joan Garcia and the renewal of Wojciech Szczesny. Both are involved in specific training sessions at the start of pre-season with Inaki Pena, who the club are looking to offload, but not with the German, who has not yet joined his goalkeeping colleagues in their training routine.