Barcelona's Summer Clear-Out: Bardghji Injury Sparks Changes for Fort and Casado
Barcelona’s summer clear-out has taken a harsh twist, and two of La Masia’s latest hopefuls now find themselves training alone, waiting for the door to open elsewhere.
Bardghji blow triggers fresh decisions
The plan had been clear. Barcelona, under Hansi Flick, were streamlining the first-team squad, trimming the numbers and pushing fringe players toward exits that might finally give them proper minutes.
Roony Bardghji was one of those names. The Swedish winger stood on the brink of a move – loan or permanent – in search of the game time he was unlikely to get at Montjuïc. Then his season stopped before it had even started.
A serious knee injury in training on Monday has ruled him out for the foreseeable future, a brutal setback for a teenager whose career was supposed to be accelerating, not pausing.
In the wake of that injury, the club’s squad surgery has not slowed. It has sharpened.
According to journalist Nil Sola on Carrusel Deportivo, Barça have now instructed Hector Fort and Marc Casado to train individually, away from the main group, as the club steers them toward the exit ahead of the new season.
Both have been told, plainly, to find new teams.
Training alone, futures on hold
On Tuesday, while Flick worked with his core group, Fort and Casado were out on their own. Same facilities, different reality.
The decision is described internally as precautionary – a way to avoid injuries or complications while their futures are being negotiated in the final weeks of the transfer window. Clubs do not like to see potential transfer fees limping into the medical room.
Still, the message is unmistakable. Despite being involved in pre-season so far, neither Fort nor Casado has done enough to force Flick to change his plans.
At this point in their careers, the worst option might be the most comfortable one: staying. Remaining at Barça without a realistic path to first-team minutes would stall them, and the club knows it.
So the separation begins on the training pitch.
Fort: talent in the wrong timeline
Hector Fort is not leaving because he lacks quality. If anything, he is a victim of timing.
The right-back has shown, whenever called upon, that he can handle the Barça shirt. He looked composed in his appearances, tidy in possession, and reliable in his defensive work. His pre-season did nothing to damage that impression.
But Barça at right-back is a crowded street.
Jules Kounde and Eric Garcia are both considered genuine options in that role, while Xavi Espart – a prodigious academy talent – is pushing hard from behind. For Fort, that queue is unforgiving.
At a different club, or in a different year, he might have been the one breaking through. At Barça, “good” is not enough. Looking promising in pre-season is not enough. You have to be undeniably better than the alternatives, and right now, he is not the chosen one.
So an immensely talented full-back finds himself training alone, waiting for a call that could finally give him a clear lane to play.
Casado: from breakthrough to dead end
Marc Casado’s story has taken a sharper turn.
His first season under Flick was outstanding, a breakout campaign that suggested Barça had found another long-term midfield option from within. Energy, bite, intelligence on the ball – he looked built for the modern Barça engine room.
His second season told a different tale. Disrupted, uneven, and increasingly overshadowed, Casado slipped down the pecking order as the squad’s midfield depth thickened around him.
Now, with Rodri on his way and the centre of the pitch already stacked, the logic is ruthless but clear: this is the moment to sell.
Casado still has the tools. His talent is not in doubt. What he does not have is a guarantee of minutes in a midfield that leaves little room for passengers or projects.
A move to a club that can offer him regular football could unlock the next phase of his career in a way a third marginal season at Barça simply cannot.
Crunch weeks ahead
For both Fort and Casado, the next few weeks will define their immediate futures. They will continue to work, but apart from the main group, as agents and clubs test the market.
Whether they keep training individually until a deal is done remains to be seen. What is clear is that, in Flick’s Barcelona, the line between inside and outside the project has already been drawn.
And for two young Spaniards who grew up dreaming of the Camp Nou, the real question now is not whether they leave, but where they go to prove that Barça might just be wrong to let them.
