Karim Adeyemi Joins Barcelona Training
Karim Adeyemi finally pulls on Barça colours in anger – not in a stadium, not yet under the lights, but on a quiet Catalan morning at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper.
After more than a week of waiting in limbo while paperwork caught up with reality, the German winger has at last stepped onto the training pitch as an FC Barcelona player under Hansi Flick. Until now, he had been stuck in the strange no-man’s-land of the modern transfer: in the city, around the club, but not truly part of it.
From presentation suit to training kit
On Thursday, the formality arrived. Barcelona officially unveiled Adeyemi, the cameras flashed as he posed with president Joan Laporta, and he spoke to the media for the first time as a Barça player. The photos were done, the smiles were in place. The real work, though, started the next morning.
Shortly before 8:45 a.m. today, Adeyemi walked through the doors of the training complex not as a visitor or a future signing, but as a registered member of the squad. No more waiting. No more holding pattern.
He already knew the faces in the dressing room from his days lingering around the club while the final details of his move were ironed out. This time, though, there was no separation. Boots on, bib on, the 24-year-old went through his first full session in Barça training gear, beginning the process of absorbing Flick’s demands and sharpening his fitness for the new season.
The tempo under the new coach is unforgiving. Adeyemi now has to catch up.
No rush into action
The natural question comes next: when will he play?
Not tonight. Despite completing his first workout, Adeyemi is not expected to feature in Barcelona’s behind-closed-doors friendly against CE Europa on Friday evening, as reported by SPORT. One training session under Flick is not a pre-season, and the staff see no reason to throw him in just to satisfy curiosity.
With the trip to England around the corner, the club prefer to build him up properly. The plan is clear: his first real chance to make an impression should arrive when Barcelona face Birmingham City in a pre-season friendly on July 31. That game offers a more logical stage for a debut – a few more sessions in his legs, a better understanding of the system, a cleaner platform to show why Barça brought him in.
Days later, the Blaugrana will also meet Preston North End in another behind-closed-doors encounter. That second English test hands Adeyemi yet another window to stake his claim before the season starts in earnest. Two matches, close together, both designed for players to fight for places. For a quick, direct attacker, those are the kind of environments that can shift a pecking order.
For now, though, the Europa friendly will go ahead without him. As things stand, Adeyemi is set to join the list of absentees against the Primera RFEF side later today.
Injury list and individual work
He will not be alone on the sidelines. Ronald Araújo, Alejandro Balde and Hafiz Gariba are also expected to miss out.
Friday’s morning session underlined the situation. While Adeyemi took his first collective steps with the group, Balde continued to work away from the main squad, still following an individual programme. Araújo also trained separately as he inches closer to full fitness, his workload carefully managed.
So Flick’s early pre-season puzzle remains incomplete. Key defenders are still on their own paths back, a new winger is only just starting to integrate, and the friendlies are arriving fast.
Adeyemi has finally traded waiting for work. The next question is how quickly that work turns into a starting place in a Barcelona side being reshaped in Flick’s image.
