Barcelona boosted as star duo join pre-season training in the USA

Barcelona landed in Florida on Sunday night at 9 pm (local time) for their pre-season tour of the USA, where they will be playing three friendly matches against Manchester City, Real Madrid, and AC Milan.

New manager Hansi Flick has planned a double session for Monday as the Blaugrana continue preparations for the upcoming season.

Two reinforcements arrive

Hansi Flick has taken a host of young players to the US pre-season tour along with a handful of senior stars who had been training at the club facilities this month.

Now, Barcelona have been boosted by the return of two more established senior stars, Ilkay Gundogan and Raphinha, after their vacations.

İlkay Gündoğan joins the team here in Orlando! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/Htk77ucoKd

The pair did not travel with the rest of the squad from Catalonia but have directly joined the team in the USA and are already starting training with a double session planned by Flick for today.

Gundogan made it as far as the quarterfinals of the UEFA Euro 2024 with Germany and has been on vacation for the past couple of weeks.

Raphinha also went until the quarterfinals of the 2024 Copa America with Brazil.

Raphinha has joined the team, too! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/MOQaLNBLVa

Both Gundogan and Raphinha have been linked with summer exits but neither are planning to leave Barcelona this summer.

In fact, Gundogan, who was seen paired up with Robert Lewandowski in training today, is expected to have a prominent role under Flick, who chatted regularly with his compatriot during the early parts of the session.

With Gundogan and Raphinha joining, Barcelona will next welcome Jules Kounde, who will link up with the team on August 1 in Maryland.