Xavi Espart Font is an 19-year-old academy product, born in Barcelona on May 21, 2007, who has come through La Masia as one of the most versatile talents in the club’s youth pipeline. Naturally a right-back, Espart has also been deployed as a defensive midfielder, both for Barcelona’s youth sides and for the Spanish national team, giving him a positional flexibility that has caught the eye of the first-team coaching staff.
He made his senior debut for Barça Atlètic back in August 2024 and quickly became a regular for the reserve side across the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons, contributing both defensively and in build-up play. That two-way profile, comfortable both stopping attacks and starting them, is exactly what has made him stand out.
The Philipp Lahm Comparison
The moment that really put Espart on the map came during Spain’s triumphant U-19 European Championship campaign. He became one of the standout names of a Spanish side that completed a perfect tournament, and while he usually plays right-back, the national team used him in midfield, a versatility that led Hansi Flick to compare him to Philipp Lahm. The comparison is not made lightly either, since Lahm himself alternated between full-back and midfielder during his career and stood out for his positional intelligence rather than physical superiority.
Spain closed out that tournament without conceding a single goal, and Espart and Andres Cuenca were the two Barcelona representatives in the squad that lifted the trophy.
First-Team Involvement and Current Contract Situation
Espart has already made appearances with Barcelona’s senior side, making six appearances at right-back last season after earning his first-team debut under Hansi Flick. He has entered the dynamics of Barcelona’s first team and already has a contract with the club, with his ability to occupy two positions potentially opening up opportunities during the 2026-27 season, especially given a demanding fixture schedule.
That said, his long-term role is still being worked out behind the scenes. Barcelona will have to decide whether he stays permanently with the first team, competes with the reserve side, or alternates between both structures over the course of the season.
Fighting for His Place in Preseason
With most of Barcelona’s World Cup contingent still on holiday, Hansi Flick used the early stages of preseason at Saint George’s Park to take a wider group of academy players to camp, including Espart alongside fellow La Masia graduate Alvaro Cortes. Both players made their senior debuts last season but are short on first-team minutes, and this preseason window is effectively an audition. Whoever impresses stands a better chance of staying integrated into the matchday squad once the senior stars return from their break.
For Espart, that means proving his positional versatility translates from Spain’s youth setup to the physical and tactical demands of Flick’s first team, whether that is at right-back or further forward in midfield.
What It Means for Culés
Espart’s story fits a pattern Barça fans have come to recognize: technically gifted, tactically flexible, homegrown talent given a real pathway under Hansi Flick. A Philipp Lahm comparison from the manager himself is not something handed out casually, and it signals genuine belief in his ceiling. Whether he becomes a rotation option at right-back, a midfield alternative, or needs more time with the reserves to develop, Espart is one of the clearest examples of La Masia’s next wave pushing at the first-team door.
Culés should keep a close eye on preseason friendlies for early signs of how much trust Flick is putting in him heading into the new campaign.
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