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, and Hansi Flick looks increasingly like a coach who has just “signed” a new midfielder without spending a cent.
The name is familiar to anyone who watched last season’s run-in: Xavi Espart, another product of La Masia’s dazzling Class of 2007.
From right-back prospect to Lahm-style midfielder
Barca retained their La Liga crown in 2025/26, but the story inside the club was the steady rise of a generation. Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi, Marc Bernal – all born in 2007, all raised together in the academy, all fast-tracked into the first team.
Espart joined them in ticking off the dream. His debut came not at Montjuïc, but under the floodlights at Newcastle United, thrown on late in a 1-1 draw in the Champions League last-16 first leg. No blaugrana shirt that night, but the orange away kit of the era, still in use this preseason. The stage was big enough.
He finished the campaign with six senior appearances under Flick. On paper he was a defender, often earmarked as a right-back. Inside the club, though, there was a different conversation. Espart had grown up playing in midfield at La Masia, and Flick quickly saw something else in him – a Philip Lahm-type profile, intelligent and flexible enough to operate either in the back line or at the heart of the pitch.
This summer, the experiment has become a plan. Espart has featured exclusively in midfield during preseason, while Eric Garcia has tightened his grip on the right-back role, pushing Jules Kounde for minutes there and giving Flick a clearer structure across the back.
Preseason statement: Basel and the Gamper
If there were doubts about Espart’s suitability to the middle of the park, his performances in the last week have gone a long way to silencing them.
Culers took note of his display in the 2-5 away win over Basel last Sunday, where his composure and positioning stood out in a chaotic, open game. The rhythm of Barca’s play sharpened when he got on the ball; he looked like he belonged.
Then came the Gamper Trophy against Al Ahly. In a tighter 2-1 victory, Espart again operated in midfield and came within inches of his first senior goal, denied only by a block near the line. It was the kind of late-arriving run that screams “natural midfielder”, not makeshift full-back.
These are still preseason matches, but the pattern is clear: Flick is no longer just testing an idea. He is shaping a role.
A La Masia core for Elche opener
Because of the heavy World Cup involvement of their players, Barca start their league campaign later than most, with only Real Madrid sharing that delay. The real business begins at 21:30 local time on Sunday in Elche, and the champions will do so with a squad still missing some key pieces.
Pedri is not yet fit. New signing Rodri is also sidelined. Those absences rip open a space in midfield, and Espart suddenly finds himself with a realistic shot at starting the first league game of the season.
He would not be alone. Lamine Yamal and Marc Bernal, his fellow 2007 graduates, are also in contention to line up from the start. The trio have already carried the academy banner together; now they could carry it into a season opener.
The only doubt in that quartet is Pau Cubarsi. The World Cup’s Best Young Player did not feature at all in the Gamper, prompting questions. Is he short of rhythm? Or was Flick simply wrapping him in cotton wool after a long summer?
Either way, the probability of all four La Masia starlets starting together is rising. For Barcelona, it would be more than a tactical choice. It would be a statement.
A new campaign, another title defence, and at the heart of it, a coach willing to trust a 2007-born midfielder who not long ago was just another kid at La Masia. On Sunday night in Elche, Xavi Espart may discover that his position – and his future – has changed for good.
