Three Barcelona players who are yet to see minutes on the US pre-season tour

Barcelona have won both their games on tour in the United States so far and could not have asked for a better start.

If the team’s win over Manchester City showed promise, the performance against Real Madrid only reinforced the feeling that there is serious talent in Hansi Flick’s squad.

Moreover, it is clear by this point that the new manager is a perfectionist and that he is pushing the players to give their 100% during every minute on the field.

Three pending debuts

Flick took a contingent of 31 players to the United States for the ongoing tour. Across the two games so far, 28 players have seen minutes and only three remain to make their debut for the season.

The first, Diego Kochen, is one of the team’s backup goalkeepers. While Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Inaki Pena and Ander Astralaga have all seen minutes so far, the US international is yet to play in front of his home crowd.

Diego Kochen is yet to play on the US tour. (Photo by PAU BARRENA/AFP via Getty Images)

Jules Kounde is another player called up who is set to make his first appearance under Flick. His exclusion from action so far, however, was down to his late entry into the dynamics.

The French international joined the squad last Thursday and sat out El Clasico owing to his lack of match practice.

Kounde, thus, is expected to have his minutes against AC Milan although it remains to be seen if he plays at centre-back or right-back.

The third and final player who is yet to make his debut is Alexis Olmedo. The 18-year-old defender did participate in the team’s training match against UE Olot but is yet to earn Flick’s favour in the United States.

Given that not much rides on the results on tour, the player could well have his minutes off the bench against AC Milan as well. His future with the first team, however, is far from clear.