FC Barcelona coach Hansi Flick spoke about Ferran Torres’ potential exit after their side lost on penalties to Birmingham City on Friday night.
“I spoke with him during the World Cup, but now he is on holiday, he is important for us,” Flick insisted.
As implied, Ferran didn’t feature in the 2-2 friendly draw in England, where young Egyptian hopeful Hamza Abdelkarim bagged both of the Blaugrana’s goals.
Like many World Cup stars in the squad, he is still on holiday and should link up with the rest of his club teammates in the coming weeks.
Ferran is being linked with a move away from FC Barcelona
Even before netting Spain’s winning extra time goal in the final against Argentina, however, to seal a second World Cup title, Ferran had already been linked with a potential move away from the Spotify Camp Nou.
Once more, his former Spain boss Luis Enrique – like he did with Dro Fernandez – attempted to convince Ferran that his future lies at the Parc des Princes.
Already, we’ve seen reports of the 26-year-old being in “advanced talks” with the Qatari-owned Champions League holders.
Ferran’s contract expires in under a year from now on June 30, 2027, meaning that this is the last summer to earn a reasonable transfer fee for him.
Ideally, in any potential sale, Barça would like to recoup a good portion of the $63.5 million (€55 million) they agreed to pay Manchester City for him in late 2021.
It’s certainly true that Ferran’s stock will have risen since his exploits in the United States, where his strike against Lionel Messi’s nation was the only one he managed across the FIFA-held tournament amid acting as a back up to Mikel Oyarzabal.
Yet ideally the Catalans would like to keep Torres, who netted 16 goals performing a similar function for Robert Lewandowski in 2025/2026, as Flick’s men retained the La Liga title.
Failed pursuits for the likes of Julian Alvarez and Junior Kroupi would leave the defending Spanish champions seriously short-staffed up front if Torres were to walk.
Lewandowski has since departed to the Chicago Fire after his own contract expired, while Hamza Abdelkarim might not yet be ready for regular time in the elite.
When Ferran is back and FC Barcelona are ready to make their season debut against Elche on August 23rd, we’ll see who Flick fancies with Dani Olmo another option as a false ‘9’. That’s if Ferran is still around.