Barcelona stars Pedri and Ferran Torres let slip this week that Hansi Flick
has softened his stance with his players regarding punctuality.Flick had previously benched players for arriving late to team meetings, but it now appears that he will issue fines instead.
According to RAC1, there are a few reasons why Flick opted to make the change at Barcelona even though he continues to stress the importance of being on time.
Players were apparently starting to feel “singled out” by being dropped, particularly
as the news would often be leaked by media outlets. This is said to have generated “a bit of discomfort” and the feeling in the dressing room was that the sanction was too severe.
It seems the situation came to a head after reports claimed that Flick wanted to drop Lamine Yamal after he was late for a meeting ahead of a Champions League match with PSG but was overrruled by Deco.
Flick called out the speculation at the time as “bulls***” but it seems it had an effect. The Barcelona captains spoke to the Barca boss and Deco and suggested it was perhaps time to make a change.
Flick then decided to change his punishment to a fine going forwards and implemented the new rules back in October.
