The Asian tour of FC Barcelona culminated with full victories in its three matches, almost without getting ruffled. In that sense, Hansi Flick took the opportunity to give minutes to almost the entire squad, with the exception of two players: Iñaki Peña and Marc Bernal.
The American Diego Kochen was the last player to appear in the match against FC Daegu, entering for Wojciech Szczesny in the final stretch of the match. In principle, the goalkeeper of the Barça subsidiary is expected to be the third goalkeeper in 25/26, waiting to resolve the future of Marc-André ter Stegen.
Iñaki Peña has offers from Sevilla and Celta de Vigo
One of the main reasons why Iñaki Peña did not participate in the commitments played in Korea and Japan is because he is very close to leaving the Blaugrana club, beyond being, for now, the only goalkeeper registered to play LaLiga EA Sports.
The Alicante native has offers from two LaLiga clubs, Sevilla and Celta de Vigo. His market value is 8 million euros according to ‘Transfermarkt’ and his salary is 3.25 million euros gross per year. It is worth remembering that his contract ends in 2026.
The Spanish goalkeeper comes from guarding the Barça goal for 23 matches in the last year, being him and Szczęsny the goalkeepers with the most participation in 24/25. Now, with the arrival of Joan García this summer, Peña simply has no place in the culé squad.
Marc Bernal gets ready for the Barça league start
For his part, the young midfielder Marc Bernal has had little participation with the team in the last year, this is due to a rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament of the left knee and an injury associated with the external meniscus, during a match against Rayo Vallecano.
For this reason, Hansi Flick prioritized that he finish his recovery and his return to the field has been postponed. In fact, he still has not received medical discharge with the club.
"I have learned a lot, especially to be strong and try not to think when things are not going well. There were times when I just wanted to be at home and sleep all day," Bernal said in an interview for the culé digital media.
As things stand, the two 'outcasts' of the Barça Asian tour return with the team with radically opposite panoramas heading into 25/26. While Marc hopes to consolidate himself as an alternative in midfield, Iñaki must change his tune to relaunch his career.