Barcelona manager Hansi Flick identified three young talents to promote in May | OneFootball

Barcelona manager Hansi Flick has impressed everyone with the speed of his adaptation to life in Catalonia, and the speed at which he has improved the club. Not only has he turned things around dramatically, he has done so practically without reinforcements, with Dani Olmo the only major signing this summer.

That is no accident though. It was questioned before he took the job just how much he would commit to the academy products at La Masia, and how he would cope with not knowing the club inside out. However part of the reason he got the job was by impressing Sporting Director Deco with his knowledge during their first meeting, as revealed by Sport.

The encounter, which lasted three hours, began with Flick explaining that he liked Barcelona: the players, the club, its idiosyncracies, and essentially all that went with it. Before going into the meeting, Flick had also prepared dossiers on all of the first-team and Barca Atletic players, using them to explain how he would use and get the best out of their players.

During that process, he also picked out Marc Casado, Marc Bernal and Pau Victor as players that he wanted to promote to the first team. All three were in use on the first day of the season, and in Casado’s case, he has become key to their midfield, albeit Bernal was deprived of that opportunity due to injury.

Flick has made little noise since arriving in Barcelona, and made little effort to puff out his chest off the back of his early season success. Undoubtedly, he has been the key factor in the change. While the fitness levels have also improved off the back of a new team in that department, the main thing players highlight about his tenure is the change in atmosphere.