Barcelona kick off their preseason tour against Manchester City

While transfer rumors seem to be on everyone's minds, Barcelona are set to kick off their U.S. preseason tour on Tuesday against Manchester City.

This will be the Catalan's side first official unofficial matches of the Hansi Flick era. There is definite excitement among the Blaugrana faithful to see how the team can transform with the German manager in charge.

Flick's first challenge won't be an easy one, preseason or not, as Barcelona will play against Pep Guardiola's Manchester City.

It won't be a Barcelona at full strength as Flick is without a number of players who played in EURO 2024. The likes of Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres won't be available, neither will the injured players like Ansu Fati, Gavi, Pedri or Frenkie de Jong.

Manchester City already have a few games under their belt in their preseason tour. They played against Celtic and AC Milan, suffering defeats in both games.

What to watch out for

Much of the focus will be on Barcelona to gauge if Flick has had any impact on the squad since taking over.

Perhaps the most important thing Flick and his coaching staff will be looking out for is which of the young players can make a good impression. A number of La Masia players are taking part in the tour with a handful having a real possiblity of being with the first team once the season begins.

A player like Marc Casadó is expected to make a significant contribution as he is versatile, having been used as a holding midfielder and a right-back with Barça Atlètic last season.

With Barcelona's transfer strategy focused in attack, it looks increasingly unlikely they will sign a pivot during this transfer window. Therefore, Casadó will get the opportunity to convince Flick he can serve that all-important function. With Andreas Christensen and Oriol Romeu being the other alternatives, it stands to reason Casadó will get plenty of minutes across preseason to stake a claim.

Another thing will be the fullback position. Alejandro Balde received the medical green light and should be available after missing half of last season with an injury. Alex Valle returns from loan at Levante and could stick around as a viable back-up option.

At right-back, Hector Fort and Julian Araujo will be battling it out to see who can be the starter, or back-up depending on what happens with Joao Cancelo. With Ronald Araujo out long-term and Pau Cubarsi on duty with Spain's Olympic team, Jules Kounde, who has been serving as the right-back, could be moved to central defense.

Finally, it'll be Vitor Roque's opportunity to prove he deserves to stay at Barcelona with a number of rumors swirling about his impending departure. The Brazilian didn't see much action under Xavi Hernandez and hopes he can get a fresh start under Flick.

For those interested in tuning in, the match between Barcelona and Manchester City will take place at 6pm central time at the Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.