According to Sport, Cubarsi did not play in the Gamper Trophy to avoid excessive exhaustion before the official start of the new season.

Cubarsi played all 750 minutes of Spain's World Cup matches in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, participating in every minute of the 8 games. He played the full 90 minutes in the 7 games leading up to the final, and was on the field during extra time in the final. His last-second clearance against Argentina in stoppage time has gone down in Spanish football history.

The Spanish player also won the tournament's best young player award. He formed an unbreakable center-back partnership with Aymeric Laporte, and the Spanish team conceded only one goal in the entire World Cup, against Belgium. This led to immense fatigue, so it is more appropriate to gradually reintroduce him to the team now.

Cubarsi, like other Spanish World Cup winning internationals, enjoyed the same holiday, and therefore did not participate in the friendly against Birmingham, nor in the triangular tournament against Nottingham Forest and Udinese. He returned against Basel, playing 19 minutes.

Since then, he has been training with the team, but Hans Flick did not want to take any risks in the Gamper Trophy, even though the player showed no obvious discomfort. Flick is simply managing his playing load, especially for those who were instrumental in winning in New Jersey, to prevent them from being affected by too much playing time.

This is also the case with Pedri and Gavi; Flick has been using them cautiously. Even Dani Olmo, who seems to be in good form, has his playing time strictly controlled by Flick.

Once Flick believes Cubarsi is ready and there is no risk of injury, he will become an undisputed starter. Cubarsi will be in the squad for Sunday's match at the Martínez Valero stadium, but he is not expected to start yet.

This leaves Hans Flick with the question of who will partner Gerard Martín in the center. As the player himself said, Eric García will start as the primary right-back at the beginning of the season, while Balde will play on the left. In the center, the German coach tried Kounde in the Gamper Trophy, but Christensen has also started this summer in good form.

Therefore, the choice is whether to move Kounde back to his original center-back position or continue to use Christensen. Hans Flick needs to decide if the Frenchman's performance after returning to the center-back line is strong enough for him to continue starting in the first league match.

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