Karim Adeyemi Joins FC Barcelona Training
Karim Adeyemi finally steps onto the grass as a Barcelona player
The wait is over. After more than a week stuck in limbo, Karim Adeyemi has at last taken part in his first training session as a FC Barcelona footballer under Hansi Flick.
The German winger has been in the city since last week, watching the days tick by while the final administrative details of his move were processed. He could walk through the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper. He could meet his new teammates. What he could not do was train with them.
That changed on Thursday. Barcelona officially unveiled Adeyemi, the 24-year-old posing for the traditional photographs alongside president Joan Laporta before speaking to the media for the first time as a Barça player. The presentation closed the paperwork chapter. The football one started this morning.
From guest to squad member
Shortly before 8:45 a.m. on Friday, Adeyemi arrived at the training ground again. This time, he came not as a visitor but as a fully registered member of the first team.
He already knew the faces in the dressing room from his days waiting around the club facilities. Now he could finally share the pitch with them, pulling on the club’s training gear and joining his first full session under Flick. For the coaching staff, it was the first chance to see him move, press, and combine within the structure they are building for the new season.
For Adeyemi, it was about more than fitness. It was the beginning of his adaptation to Flick’s demands, the start of the battle to secure a place in the attacking hierarchy before competitive football returns.
No rush for Europa friendly
The excitement of that first workout will not immediately translate into minutes on the pitch. According to SPORT, Adeyemi is not expected to take part in Barcelona’s behind-closed-doors friendly against CE Europa on Friday evening.
He has just one training session with Flick in his legs. Throwing him straight into a game, even a low-key one, would be a risk the staff see no need to take at this stage of pre-season. The Europa match arrives too soon; the plan is to build him up, not to hurry him.
Barcelona’s schedule gives them that luxury. With a trip to England on the horizon, Adeyemi is set to get his first real chance to impress when Barça face Birmingham City in a pre-season friendly on July 31. Days later, another behind-closed-doors encounter awaits against Preston North End, a second window for the winger to show he can bring something different to Flick’s attack.
Those games, not tonight’s run-out against a Primera RFEF side, are expected to be the stage where Adeyemi starts to carve out his role in this new-look Barça.
Absentees and individual work
For now, he will likely join the list of absentees from the Europa friendly. That group already includes Ronald Araújo, Alejandro Balde, and Hafiz Gariba.
Friday’s morning session underlined where some of the squad stand physically. Balde continued to work away from the main group, still following an individual plan. Araújo also trained on his own as he edges closer to full fitness, a key objective for Barcelona after his recent injury problems.
While they ticked off their recovery programmes, Adeyemi took his first collective steps in blaugrana. The paperwork is done, the photos are taken. From here on, everything that matters will be decided on the training pitch and, very soon, on the grass in England.
