FC Barcelona will have Raphinha back in the fold sooner than some had feared. The Brazilian winger is scheduled to rejoin Hansi Flick’s squad on July 27, after which he will travel directly with the Blaugrana expedition to England for the club’s pre-season training camp, AS has reported.
The eight-day England camp culminates in a pre-season friendly against Birmingham City on July 31. His return comes after a difficult World Cup experience that included a hamstring injury he sustained against Haiti, which complicated both his tournament and his summer preparations. The club granted him an additional week of rest before requiring him to report.
His return comes against a backdrop of persistent transfer noise. Speculation linking Raphinha to Saudi Arabia has circulated throughout the summer, but both the player and those around him have maintained consistently that his intention is to remain at Barcelona. With a World Cup experience disrupted by injury now behind him, his focus appears firmly on re-establishing himself within Flick’s project.
The England camp itself is being assembled in stages, as is typical of post-World Cup pre-seasons. Karim Adeyemi is expected to feature prominently following his move from Borussia Dortmund, though that transfer had not yet been made official at the time of reporting. Anthony Gordon will have further holiday time before reporting back, while Fermín López is set to travel but is not expected to feature in matches as he continues recovering from a foot injury. Barcelona are also monitoring whether Joao Cancelo’s transfer can be completed in time for him to join the group in England.
The broader pre-season squad picture remains complicated by World Cup absences. Ronald Araujo arrived back this week but is still managing a soleus problem that kept him out of Uruguay’s games during the tournament. Frenkie de Jong is also expected to return imminently, though the timeline for his reintegration into full training remains uncertain given his knee injury.
For Flick, Raphinha’s arrival on July 27 adds a senior attacking option at a point in pre-season when numbers are thin. His fitness management during the England camp will be the first real indicator of how quickly he can be prepared for competitive action, and it will inform the coaching staff’s early-season planning on the right side of the attack.
