Alex Collado has four weeks to prove his point to Ronald Koeman
The Barca midfielder will not go back to the B team and could take Trincao's minutes
The countdown has started. The ball is rolling in Barca’s pre-season and with it, the youth players are battling to impress Ronald Koeman and earn a place in the first team squad.
Alex Collado is one of the more impressive players. The Sabadell born midfielder will be part of the squad next season. He believes his time is up with Barca B.
“I’ll work as hard as possible to get minutes,” said Collado. “I’m happy and content. I won’t return to Barca B and I’ll work to stay here.”
He did well in the second half of the 4-0 win over Nastic, scoring a deflected effort. He wore the No 24 and the captain’s armband.
Despite debuting for the first team over two years ago, Collado didn’t get any minutes last season under Koeman. The games he did play in before were both 2-0 defeats by Celta and Valencia, coming off the bench.
Trincao’s loan to Wolves is a good opportunity for Collado to find more minutes. He played in 42 games last season and that could be chances for Collado now. He has a month to convince Koeman he is at the right level.
There are games to come against Girona, Stuttgart, and Red Bull Salzburg, a trip to Germany and a long list of training sessions to show what he can do. If he fails, the club will look for a loan for him. Barca B is too small. Is it Collado’s time?
