Ronald Koeman had good news and bad news on Wednesday ahead of Barcelona's first friendly of preseason against Nastic de Tarragona at the Johan Cruyff Stadium.
The bad news came in the form of B team midfielder Nico Gonzalez, who misses out with a bug. The youngster is one of the most exciting players coming through at the moment.
Many consider him the natural heir to Sergio Busquets and Koeman has been taking a closer look at his quality during preseason, with Ilaix Moriba confined to the B team as contract negotiations go on.
Meanwhile, Sergi Roberto has been given the green light to return to action having missed the end of last season with an injury. It was a season to forget for the man from Reus, who suffered from a number of physical problems,
For the first friendly of 21-22, Koeman's called up 23 players: Dest, Piqué, Pjanic, Riqui Puig, Neto, S. Roberto, Umtiti, Iñaki Peña, Arnau Tenas, Collado, Demir, Ramos Mingo, Gavi, Comas, Escobar, Balde, Matheus Pereira, Igor Gomes, Peque Polo, R. Manaj, M. N’diaye, Hiroki, Mortimer.