Jofre Torrents changes the scenario for Barça's left-back

Jofre Torrents is the latest player to have made his professional debut under Hansi Flick. The left-back took his opportunity when he came on for Alejandro Balde on matchday 1 of LaLiga 25/26, against Mallorca.

Thus, the player from La Selva del Camp saw his first 22 official minutes with the first team and is another option that the German coach can count on on the left side.

The '26' had a positive performance after having 86% passing accuracy (12 out of 14 possible) and only lost one ball. Defensively, he won 1 of 3 duels, both ground and aerial (33%).

Jofre Torrents saw minutes in all pre-season matches and counts for Flick

The 18-year-old left-back added competitive experience after participating in all pre-season matches, where he was able to demonstrate his offensive contribution, assisting Ferran Torres in the thrashing against FC Seoul (3-7) in South Korea. In total, the defender played 123 minutes spread over the four summer friendlies.

The good minutes that the 18-year-old defender had were to the liking of Hansi Flick, who, in view of how the match was going on Saturday in Son Moix - numerical superiority and on the scoreboard - decided to give him the chance to make his debut with the first team in an official match, in response to the unavailability of Gerard Martín, who is the natural substitute for Balde.

Gerard Martín is emerging as the centre-back on the left after Iñigo's departure

Gerard Martín was not registered for Barça's first match against Mallorca, so he has not been able to see minutes this season. In view of the absence of Iñigo Martínez this summer, Flick would consider lining up Martín as a defender on the left, giving a hand to Pau Cubarsí and Ronald Araujo.

Not in vain, the '35' already played in this demarcation during the Asian tour, while Jofre has already been registered in LaLiga along with three other reserve team players.

It should be noted that the player born in Esplugues de Llobregat had been alternating with Balde in the left-back position in the last year, but with Torrents' promotion to the first team and the vacancy left by the Basque centre-back, this situation may change. In this way, the 23-year-old defender must adapt to being a centre-back if he wants to see minutes this season.

Since he was in the youth team, there was already talk of what Torrents could show in the first team of Barça. In May he extended his contract with the club until June 2028. Balde also has a contract until the summer of that year. That means that Barça's left flank will be shielded for a long time.