Xavi Espart: Hansi Flick's New Midfield Gem from La Masia

FC Barcelona will open their 2026/27 La Liga title defence on Sunday night in Elche, but Hansi Flick may already have made his most intriguing move of the new season. He hasn’t gone to the market. He’s gone back to La Masia.

After last season’s successful defence of the league crown, Flick has quietly elevated another member of the much-hyped Class of 2007. Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi and Marc Bernal have already stepped out of the academy and into the spotlight. Now Xavi Espart is pushing to join them as a fully-fledged part of the first-team puzzle.

From Newcastle cameo to serious contender

Espart’s first taste of senior football came in one of those nights that shape a youngster’s imagination. Barcelona, in their orange away kit, were grinding through a tense Champions League last‑16 first leg at Newcastle United. Late in a 1-1 draw, Flick turned to the teenager.

It was only a brief cameo, but it broke the barrier. Espart went on to make six appearances across the 2025/26 campaign. Each outing came with the same question whispered around the club: is this really his final position?

He had been used as a defender, but those who watched him grow at La Masia knew the truth. Espart had been moulded in midfield. Flick saw it too, likening his versatility to that of Philipp Lahm – a player who could read the game so well he seemed at home in more than one role.

The comparison wasn’t a throwaway line. It has shaped Espart’s summer.

Full-time midfielder, full-time statement

This preseason, the experiment has stopped being an experiment. Espart has been used exclusively in midfield. The right-back lane now looks reserved for Eric Garcia, who has surged into contention there and offers direct competition to Jules Kounde.

That positional clarity has freed Espart. And it shows.

Culers sat up during the 2-5 away win over Basel last Sunday. In a game that flowed and stretched, Espart looked like he belonged in the middle, dictating tempo, linking lines, and showing the composure of someone far older than his birth certificate suggests.

Then came the Gamper Trophy against Al Ahly. Barcelona won 2-1, but Espart came within a step of adding his name to the scoresheet, denied only by a block near the line. It was the kind of late-arrival run into the box that coaches love and opponents hate.

Those two performances have changed the tone. Espart is no longer just a promising kid getting minutes. He is a live option.

Pedri out, door opens

Barcelona’s title defence officially begins at 21:30 local time on Sunday in Elche. Their start has been delayed, like Real Madrid’s, because of the heavy World Cup workload carried by so many of their players. That delay has given Flick time to look inward, and the squad list tells its own story.

Pedri is still not fit. New signing Rodri is also unavailable. Two absences in the heart of midfield. One opportunity for a La Masia graduate who has just spent a whole preseason rehearsing for exactly this role.

Espart now has a realistic shot at starting in Elche, potentially lining up alongside his fellow 2007-born teammates Lamine Yamal and Marc Bernal. That’s no longer a romantic idea. It’s a tactical option that makes sense in the current context.

Waiting on Cubarsi, dreaming of a quartet

The only doubt in the Class of 2007 picture is Pau Cubarsi. The World Cup’s Best Young Player did not feature in the Gamper, which has sparked two competing theories around the club: either he is not fully ready to play, or Flick simply wrapped him in cotton wool as a precaution.

If it’s the latter, the prospect becomes tantalising. All four of Barcelona’s 2007 generation – Lamine, Bernal, Cubarsi and Espart – could start together in a competitive match far sooner than anyone expected.

The odds of that happening on Sunday are growing. So is the sense that this would be more than a nice story for the academy brochure. It would be a statement about how Barcelona intend to defend their crown and shape their future.

La Masia has supplied the talent. Flick appears ready to trust it. Now the question is simple: will Elche be the night Xavi Espart stops being a cameo and becomes a cornerstone?