Karim Adeyemi Joins FC Barcelona Training: What’s Next?

Karim Adeyemi’s wait is over. After more than a week in limbo, the German winger has at last stepped onto the pitch as an FC Barcelona player under Hansi Flick.

He had been in the city, in the dressing room corridors, around his new world, but not quite part of it. Administrative details kept him sidelined, watching rather than working, as the club finalised the move that brings him from Germany to Catalonia.

That changed on Thursday. Barcelona officially unveiled him, the cameras flashed alongside president Joan Laporta, and Adeyemi spoke to the media for the first time as a Barça player. The photo calls and handshakes were the formalities. The real start came a few hours later.

First steps under Flick

On Friday morning, shortly before 8:45 a.m., Adeyemi arrived at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper with a different status. No longer a visitor, no longer the new signing waiting for clearance. A registered member of the squad, boots in his bag, work ahead of him.

He already knew the faces in the dressing room from his days hanging around the team while the paperwork dragged on. This time, though, he joined them on the grass. The 24-year-old took part in his first full group session in Barça training gear, beginning the process of absorbing Flick’s ideas and sharpening his fitness for the new season.

It was a gentle first step into a demanding environment. Flick’s sessions are intense, structured, and unforgiving for anyone off the pace. Adeyemi’s job now is simple: catch up quickly, without cutting corners.

Europa friendly comes too soon

For that reason, the temptation to throw him straight into a game will be resisted. According to SPORT, Adeyemi is not expected to feature in Barcelona’s behind-closed-doors friendly against CE Europa on Friday evening.

One training session under a new coach, with a new group, is not a platform for a debut, and Barça are in no mood to rush him. The match against the Primera RFEF side will go ahead without their newest attacker, who is set to join the list of absentees that already includes Ronald Araújo, Alejandro Balde and Hafiz Gariba.

The pressure will come soon enough. Just not tonight.

England tour offers real audition

The real stage for Adeyemi’s first minutes in Blaugrana should arrive in England. Barcelona will face Birmingham City in a pre-season friendly on July 31, a more fitting moment for Flick to unleash his new winger and start testing combinations in attack.

That trip will be followed by another behind-closed-doors clash, this time against Preston North End. Two games in quick succession, two chances for Adeyemi to show where he fits in the pecking order before the serious business starts.

Every run, every press, every dart in behind will count. In a squad crowded with attacking options, the margins are thin. Pre-season, for him, is not a warm-up; it is an audition.

Injury list and individual work

While Adeyemi was the headline act on the training pitch, the rest of Friday’s morning session carried its own subplot. Balde continued to work away from the main group, still on an individual programme as he manages his return. Araújo also trained alone as he edges closer to full fitness.

Their absence, combined with Adeyemi’s delayed integration, gives Flick a fragmented squad at a time when he would prefer clarity. Yet it also opens a small window. New signings and fringe players will get minutes, chances, and responsibility.

Adeyemi has now taken his first step in Barça colours. The next one, in front of opponents rather than teammates, will tell far more about what kind of weapon he can become in Flick’s Barcelona.