Barcelona Head Coach Luis Enrique Claims ICC Tournament Tiring for Players

Barcelona manager Luis Enrique left out a number of key players for the Blaugrana's participation in the International Champions Cup pre-season tournament, admitting he felt such tours were tiring for the players.

According to Tom Conn of Inside Spanish Football, Lionel Messi, Javier Mascherano, Dani Alves, Claudio Bravo and Neymar are all absent from Barca's squad for the U.S. tour after featuring in the Copa America earlier in the summer.

Per Conn's report, Enrique said:

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I’d prefer not to go on tour, honestly. It’s great to come here, but there are things that make it uncomfortable, like jet-lag, for example. But the club has commitments and it’s an interesting competition. They could do the same in Europe, but we have to accept it.

The players need their holidays and we’re not going to change those commitments because of a tour. Everyone wants to see the great players, but they need to rest, it’s key. It’s normal that they want to be up close to Messi, Mascherano, Neymar, Alves, Bravo, etc… but their recovery is first and foremost.

"

The tournament will see Barcelona play matches in Pasadena and Santa Clara in California, before travelling across the country to Landover in Maryland and finally returning to Europe to play in Florence, Italy.

It's not the first time a manager has complained at the distance his squad must travel during pre-season tours.

Per Sky Sports, Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal admitted last year that he was unhappy with the amount of travel involved in the Red Devils' tour to the United States.

As Barcelona will undoubtedly be challenging for trophies on multiple fronts deep into next season, having stars like Messi and Neymar fresh for the start of the campaign is imperative, so Enrique is right to afford them some much-needed rest.

The 45-year-old also stated that new arrivals Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal—who cannot play for Barca until January due to their transfer ban—will not be sent out on loan. Instead, they will participate in training to "understand the dynamics of the team."

As the Guardian's Sid Lowe notes on Twitter, this follows president Josep Maria Bartomeu's statement that Turan would be allowed to go out on loan:

Per Mark Doyle of Goal.com, Bartomeu did admit Enrique had the final say on any loan move though.

Turan and Vidal will likely benefit from being around the team for an extended period in advance of them being available to play.

Luis Suarez, who could not feature immediately for Barca last year due to his ban, settled relatively quickly into the side upon his return to action, so the pair could well hit the ground running in January.

As for those left out of the ICC tournament, their freshness will see them fit and raring to go when the La Liga season resumes and the hunt for trophies begins once more.