Barça’s Hidden Gem: Marques Proves He Can Play Anywhere, and Flick Isn’t Shy About the Future
7 February 2026
Barça’s Rising Star Makes His First-Team Debut
Barcelona routed Mallorca 3-0 in La Liga on Saturday, and 19-year-old Tommy Marques stepped onto the first team for the first time, signaling a promising future for the academy product.
Coach Hans Flick spoke after the match, saying: "Tommy has a lot of potential, and you can see it in every training. I was very happy that we gave him his first appearance today."
Barça’s Versatility in Focus
Flick explained Marques’s versatility: "This is our path, and I think it’s good for the club and for La Masia, because we respect the work they do there... What I like is the relationship between these players, they have played at La Masia, and that is completely different."
"Tommy is a very good ball player, like all La Masia players, but his body language is good as well... He has great potential, and has evolved a lot in the last six months... He can play in different midfield positions, and almost all of them... We also thought about using him as a right-back."
"We will see what happens, this is the first step, and afterwards we will see what comes."
Marc Bernal’s goal in the third sealed the win, and the bench erupted in celebration. For Bernal, the next step is returning to the top level.
Marques’s performance underscored Barça’s belief in La Masia as a pipeline to the first team, reinforcing a strategy focused on development and depth across the squad.
Sniper punchline 1: If football positions were targets, Marques would be hitting all of them—headshots, midfield, and right-back, all in one session.
Sniper punchline 2: With him, Barça have a Swiss Army knife that actually scores goals—lock and load, defense to attack, no misfires.
