Alejandro Balde’s Barcelona future has rarely looked more uncertain. The left-back was an unused substitute in Barcelona’s 2-0 win over Athletic Club at the Spotify Camp Nou on Thursday night, and by the final whistle he had effectively become the third-choice option in his own position — behind a 19-year-old academy graduate who is not even a natural left-back, and a full-back who only rejoined the club this summer.
As reported by SPORT and relayed by Barça Universal, Hansi Flick sent Balde another message on Thursday — this time not through the press, but through the decisions he made from the bench. With days left in the summer window, that message is impossible to misread.
Ninety minutes on the bench, and a warm-up that led nowhere
Balde had returned to the matchday squad after deciding he wanted to stay and fight for his place at the club he grew up in. He had been left out entirely for the trip to Elche, a decision framed at the time as a wake-up call rather than a punishment.
Against Athletic, he was back among the substitutes — and stayed there. Xavi Espart started at left-back for the second game running. When Flick did change the left flank, he turned to João Cancelo rather than Balde. Jordi Pesquer, another option in that area, was away on duty with Spain’s Under-18s. Balde warmed up, then returned to the bench without hiding his frustration.
It was, in the bluntest terms, a public ranking. Barcelona’s first-choice left-back for most of the last three seasons did not get onto the pitch in a home league game in which his team were comfortable from early on.
Xavi Espart has changed the picture completely
The player who has done most to reshape the situation is Espart. The 19-year-old was officially promoted to the first-team squad and handed the number 12 shirt this week, and he marked the occasion with the most complete performance of his young career.
Espart played the full 90 minutes, created a big chance, completed seven passes into the final third and kept a 100% crossing accuracy, while adding four recoveries and two interceptions. One perfectly weighted delivery found Raphinha, whose header came back off the base of the post. He also tested Unai Simón himself just before the hour, after a Lamine Yamal lay-off.
What impressed most, though, was a moment of pure game management. When Gerard Martín made a mistake and Iñaki Williams threatened to break through, Espart took the tactical foul, accepted the yellow card and killed the attack before it became a chance. As Mundo Deportivo put it, this is intelligence placed at the service of Flick’s system.
Flick was unusually direct about it afterwards. “Espart has great technique, he handles situations very well, both in attack and defence. I was surprised by his performance today on the left wing,” the German told DAZN, in comments carried by Barca Blaugranes. “He’s top-notch. He has room for improvement, like everyone, but he’s a fantastic player.”
Espart had already won his pre-season duel with Héctor Fort. Two consecutive starts on the left, on a side of the pitch that is not even his natural one, suggest Flick’s faith in him is hardening rather than wavering.
Cancelo’s return squeezed the position further
The other change to Balde’s landscape arrived in the transfer market. Cancelo came back to Barcelona this summer on a free transfer from Al Hilal, giving Flick an experienced, two-footed full-back who can cover either flank and who offers a very different profile in possession.
That signing was always going to compress the competition. Combined with Espart’s emergence, it has left Balde in a place he has not occupied since he broke through: outside the rotation entirely.
The distance travelled — and how quickly
The context makes the drop sharper. Balde debuted under Ronald Koeman against Bayern Munich at 17, replacing Jordi Alba, and by 19 he was starting for Spain at the World Cup in Qatar while still registered with Barcelona’s B side. Luis Enrique picked him ahead of more experienced options such as Marc Cucurella and Alejandro Grimaldo to cover the injured José Gayà.
In an open letter published by Mundo Deportivo, columnist Xavier Bosch reminded Balde of exactly that trajectory — and of Xavi Hernández’s view that his mid-season injury had been one of the reasons a title defence slipped away, because the team lost its cleanest route out from the back. Bosch also counted three separate public messages Flick has aimed at Balde through the media in recent weeks, questioning his professionalism, and noted the quiet show of support Balde received from Lamine Yamal.
He is still only 22. That is the argument for patience, and Flick has made clear he would be delighted to see a better version of the academy product rather than lose him.
The €40m question with the window closing
Barcelona value Balde at around €40 million, on the basis that any sale would have to generate a meaningful fee rather than simply clear a wage. That price has been the sticking point all summer. Manchester United have been linked with a move that could open a door for him, and there has been renewed speculation about AC Milan, but nothing has crystallised into a deal.
Crucially, the club have not frozen him out. Unlike Héctor Fort and Marc Casadó, whose situations have been handled as pure exit files, Balde has been kept training and travelling with the first team. That is a meaningful distinction — it says Barcelona would accept him staying, at the price of accepting a reduced role.
What happens next
With the window shutting at the start of next week, Balde has a narrow choice. He can dig in, accept that he starts the season behind Espart and Cancelo, and try to win the shirt back through performance — the route the coach has publicly invited him to take. Or he can revisit the offers on the table and accept that finding an attractive destination this late is difficult, and that any move would more likely be a loan than the €40m sale Barcelona want.
Neither option is comfortable. Flick, for his part, has spent August making the terms of the first one unmistakable: the place is available, but only at 100%. Thursday night was the clearest statement yet that he intends to pick on current form rather than reputation — a theme running right through his selections in the win over Athletic Club.
For a player who was one of the first names on the teamsheet not long ago, that is the harsh new reality. The next few days will decide whether he answers it in Blaugrana or somewhere else. For more on the story so far, see our report on Balde’s willingness to consider leaving after Flick’s public message.
