Leo Messi and Barça squad travel to England
Barcelona are en route to England to begin their next stage of their pre-season preparations at St. George's Park.
With the previously announced absence of Adriano Correia - who has been given permission by the club to negotiate his transfer to Besiktas - the presence of Leo Messi was the great attraction of the expedition with Arda Turan also in attendance, as the 29-year-old also contemplates offers from the Turkish League.
In the group led by coach Luis Enrique, 12 players from the youth teams have travelled in addition to the first team players of Messi, Turan, Jordi Masip, Luis Suarez, Munir, Sergi Roberto, Aleix Vidal, Jeremy Mathieu, Denis Suarez and Sergi Samper. Cristian Tello and Martin Montoya have also joined with their futures at the club still to be resolved.
The youngsters who complete the group are: Jose Suarez, Josep Martinez, Marlon, Jose Antonio Martinez, Borja Lopez, Alex Carbonell, Gerard Gumbau, Carles Alena, Nili, Jesus Alfaro, Juan Camara and Rafa Mujica. Wilfried Kaptou missed out due to problems with his visa.
Barça arrived at El Prat airport at around 10:00 and are scheduled to arrive in Birmingham at 11:30 local time.
The first training session at St. George's Park is scheduled for Monday afternoon.
✈️ Birmingham #fcblive pic.twitter.com/qzbt30vLnO
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_es) 25 de julio de 2016
