Manchester United target Pedro Rodriguez has been named in Barcelona's squad for Friday night's Spanish Super Cup first leg at Athletic Bilbao.
Pedro, 28, is reported to have grown unhappy while spending most of last season on the bench as the Blaugrana's front three Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez almost always started when fit, and has been heavily linked with a move to United this summer.
Manchester City are also now reportedly interested in the three-time Champions League winner, who Barca have admitted can leave if another club meets his €30 million release clause.
Tuesday's European Supercup further complicated the situation, with Pedro named on the bench even though Neymar was missing with the mumps, and then entering as a substitute and scoring the extra-time winner as Barcelona beat Sevilla 5-4 in Tbilisi.
That game also saw conflicting views from the Blaugrana camp. The club's new sporting director Robert Fernandez claimed winger Pedro had asked to leave. The player himself rejected those comments.
Coach Luis Enrique said the winger had a slight injury issue, while president Josep Maria Bartomeu suggested midfielder Rafinha had played instead for tactical reasons.
At his prematch Spanish Super Cup news conference on Thursday, Luis Enrique admitted the situation was "contradictory" but said he would continue to pick the best available team for each game, while saying Pedro was now 100 percent fit again.
And on Friday morning the Canary Islander was named in the 18-man travelling party for the game, as revealed by a club statement released on its website.
"FC Barcelona are travelling to Bilbao, to play the first leg of the Spanish Supercopa against Athletic Club," the statement said. "Before catching the plane, Luis Enrique has made known the names of the 18 players called up for the Blaugrana expedition. They are [Marc-Andre] ter Stegen, Claudio Bravo, Pique, Ivan Rakitic, Sergio, Dani Alves, Pedro, Andres Iniesta, Suarez, Messi, Rafinha, Mascherano, Bartra, Sandro, Munir, Sergi Roberto, Adriano and Vermaelen.
"Neymar, Douglas and Alba are still out and have remained in Barcelona. Arda Turan and Aleix Vidal, also. Mathieu and Masip, for technical reasons, are the other two players who will not travel to Bilbao."
The decision to leave out versatile defender Jeremy Mathieu, who was criticised by some pundits for his performance as Sevilla came back from 4-1 down to almost shock Barca in the UEFA Super Cup game, was a surprise.
With first choice Jordi Alba currently out with a hamstring injury, Adriano Correia, himself linked with a move to Roma this summer, now looks set to play at left-back at San Mames.
Meanwhile, Athletic coach Valverde has said that Barca's exertions in Georgia earlier in the week might be helpful to his side, while also reminding people Athletic have begun their Europa League campaign already and had agreed to Spanish Super Cup dates which suited the Catalan side's preseason schedule.
"In the Supercup game everything happened," Valverde said at his pregame news conference in Bilbao.
"There was a time when it seemed Barca would win 5-1 or 6-1, because they were well ahead. The 4-2 hurt them a lot, and pushed Sevilla a lot, who then played very well and pushed Barca back. It can happen, when it seems you have something in your hand already... it is difficult to hold on for 90 minutes against any opponent at this stage of pre-season. I don't know if Barca will pay for their efforts.
We have a much worse calendar than Barca as we have a very important game in the Europa League. We actually changed our calendar for them."