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La Masia and Barcelona’s reliance on teenage talent

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In the early 2000s, Barcelona’s La Masia academy was widely regarded as the best in the world, and it was hard to argue against it. Xavi, Andres Iniesta, and the great Lionel Messi are just a few to have made their mark on world football, thanks in no small part to their time at the academy.

By Alex Roberts

Since then, in a desperate attempt to keep up with the Premier League and other European powerhouses, Barça’s policy shifted from producing talent to purchasing it. It doesn’t matter how big the club is, spending over €100 million on three separate occasions over the span of three years isn’t sustainable.

The club’s dire financial straits have been well documented. They’ve had to pull countless ‘Economic Levers’, selling the naming rights of the Camp Nou to Spotify as well as pieces of the turf to fans wanting to feel even closer to the club they love.

After the very real threat of no longer existing, Barcelona’s transfer policy has done another 180-degree turn, and they’re now reliant on teenagers like never before. 

Xavi was the perfect man to come in and guide the ship through choppy waters, he lives and breathes Barcelona’s ethos of trusting their own. As a result, the most exciting crop of young talents since the days of Pep Guardiola have come through the first team.

Lamine Yamal doesn’t have the right to be as good as he is at the tender age of 16, he still has braces for goodness’ sake. Not only has he established himself as an important player at Barca, but he also became the youngest player in Spanish national team history, scoring on his debut.

President, Joan Laporta, even came out and said he had rejected a staggering €220 million offer from Paris Saint Germain for the youngster. That’s a very significant amount of money that would go a long way to elevating the club’s financial burdens.

But Laporta wasn’t interested, and he’s hedged his bets on Yamal’s huge potential.

The young forward isn’t the only unexpected breakthrough at Barca this season. Centre-back Pau Cubarsí has been a revelation since coming into the side, notably pocketing Victor Oshimhen during their triumph against Napoli in the Champions League round of 16.

It’s a position that Barca are relatively blessed in. Ronald Araújo, Andres Christensen, and Jules Koundé are all very capable centre-backs, although Koundé has mostly operated on the right-side of defence this season. 

Despite this serious competion for places, Cubarsí has looked completely at home in the first team, making twelve LaLiga apperances and playing a significant role in the club’s Champions League campaign.

Unfortunately, nothing in football is an exact science. The amount of professional football these youngsters are playing while their bodies are still developing could have dire consequences. All you need to do is look at the injury records of fellow Barça prodigies Pedri, Gavi, and Ansu Fati.

Each of those players either has or has had the ability to become one of the best in the world, but serious injuries have curtailed their development. 

In 2021, Pedri was named the best under-21 player in Europe, winning the prestigious Golden Boy and Kopa trophies. Since then, he’s been out for 372 days with various muscle and hamstring injuries. 

Yes, injuries are an unfortunate inevitability in football, but missing that amount of football before the age of 21 due to injury isn’t normal, and he’s not an outlier. It begs the question, should Pedri have been playing that much in the first place? 

Thankfully for Pedri and Barcelona, he’s fit once again, coming on as a substitute in their 3-2 win against Paris Saint Germain and assisting Raphina’s goal. Let’s hope he’s finally able to stay fit for a significant amount of time. 

Gavi is another of the club’s young heroes to have suffered another grievous injury. The 19-year-old fell victim to football’s ongoing epidemic of ACL tears in November 2023, and has been forced to sit on the side-lines for the entirety of this season. 

It’s the kind of injury that many players never really come back from. Time is on Gavi’s side, he may well come back like his ACL tear never happened, it’s up to his club to rehabilitate him in the proper manner, ease him into it. Given how important he is, it’s unlikely that will happen.

Barcelona will need to learn from their past and look to Ansu Fati as a lesson on how not to treat a young player after injury. 

In 2019, Messi had one foot out of the door at Barça. The club could no longer afford to keep their greatest ever player, they were simply in denial about it. Like Yamal, Fati burst onto the scene at 16-years-old and was tipped to be the one to replace the legendary Argentine. 

Then, in November 2021, Fati tore his meniscus and was ruled out for 305 days, missing 64 games for club and country. When he was finally fit again, Barça rushed him back, with more senior forwards failing to perform. 

Fati hasn’t been the same since, unable to shake the damage done to his knee. He now finds himself unable to break into a struggling Brighton side, with manager Roberto De Zerbi calling him out, saying Fati is ‘not doing enough for the team’. 

Xavi has confirmed he’ll be leaving Barcelona at the end of the season, so with no replacement confirmed as of yet, chances for La Masia graduates may dry up. The Socios tend to be less forgiving of coaches that aren’t one of their own. 

Trusting in teenagers like Barcelona currently appear to be doing produces immense value for minimal financial input, it’s now just a case of management. Running these youngsters into the ground like they have done in the past could prove disastrous.

Winning silverware this season is looking unlikely, but it could be a stepping stone to yet another golden era for La Masia and Barcelona. Only time will tell.  

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every Barcelona game live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including xG, shot maps, and player ratings. Download the free app here.

La Masia and Barcelona’s reliance on teenage talent

In the early 2000s, Barcelona’s La Masia academy was widely regarded as the best in the world, and it was hard to argue against it. Xavi, Andres Iniesta, and the great Lionel Messi are just a few to have made their mark on world football, thanks in no small part to their time at the academy.

By Alex Roberts

Since then, in a desperate attempt to keep up with the Premier League and other European powerhouses, Barça’s policy shifted from producing talent to purchasing it. It doesn’t matter how big the club is, spending over €100 million on three separate occasions over the span of three years isn’t sustainable.

The club’s dire financial straits have been well documented. They’ve had to pull countless ‘Economic Levers’, selling the naming rights of the Camp Nou to Spotify as well as pieces of the turf to fans wanting to feel even closer to the club they love.

After the very real threat of no longer existing, Barcelona’s transfer policy has done another 180-degree turn, and they’re now reliant on teenagers like never before. 

Xavi was the perfect man to come in and guide the ship through choppy waters, he lives and breathes Barcelona’s ethos of trusting their own. As a result, the most exciting crop of young talents since the days of Pep Guardiola have come through the first team.

Lamine Yamal doesn’t have the right to be as good as he is at the tender age of 16, he still has braces for goodness’ sake. Not only has he established himself as an important player at Barca, but he also became the youngest player in Spanish national team history, scoring on his debut.

President, Joan Laporta, even came out and said he had rejected a staggering €220 million offer from Paris Saint Germain for the youngster. That’s a very significant amount of money that would go a long way to elevating the club’s financial burdens.

But Laporta wasn’t interested, and he’s hedged his bets on Yamal’s huge potential.

The young forward isn’t the only unexpected breakthrough at Barca this season. Centre-back Pau Cubarsí has been a revelation since coming into the side, notably pocketing Victor Oshimhen during their triumph against Napoli in the Champions League round of 16.

It’s a position that Barca are relatively blessed in. Ronald Araújo, Andres Christensen, and Jules Koundé are all very capable centre-backs, although Koundé has mostly operated on the right-side of defence this season. 

Despite this serious competion for places, Cubarsí has looked completely at home in the first team, making twelve LaLiga apperances and playing a significant role in the club’s Champions League campaign.

Unfortunately, nothing in football is an exact science. The amount of professional football these youngsters are playing while their bodies are still developing could have dire consequences. All you need to do is look at the injury records of fellow Barça prodigies Pedri, Gavi, and Ansu Fati.

Each of those players either has or has had the ability to become one of the best in the world, but serious injuries have curtailed their development. 

In 2021, Pedri was named the best under-21 player in Europe, winning the prestigious Golden Boy and Kopa trophies. Since then, he’s been out for 372 days with various muscle and hamstring injuries. 

Yes, injuries are an unfortunate inevitability in football, but missing that amount of football before the age of 21 due to injury isn’t normal, and he’s not an outlier. It begs the question, should Pedri have been playing that much in the first place? 

Thankfully for Pedri and Barcelona, he’s fit once again, coming on as a substitute in their 3-2 win against Paris Saint Germain and assisting Raphina’s goal. Let’s hope he’s finally able to stay fit for a significant amount of time. 

Gavi is another of the club’s young heroes to have suffered another grievous injury. The 19-year-old fell victim to football’s ongoing epidemic of ACL tears in November 2023, and has been forced to sit on the side-lines for the entirety of this season. 

It’s the kind of injury that many players never really come back from. Time is on Gavi’s side, he may well come back like his ACL tear never happened, it’s up to his club to rehabilitate him in the proper manner, ease him into it. Given how important he is, it’s unlikely that will happen.

Barcelona will need to learn from their past and look to Ansu Fati as a lesson on how not to treat a young player after injury. 

In 2019, Messi had one foot out of the door at Barça. The club could no longer afford to keep their greatest ever player, they were simply in denial about it. Like Yamal, Fati burst onto the scene at 16-years-old and was tipped to be the one to replace the legendary Argentine. 

Then, in November 2021, Fati tore his meniscus and was ruled out for 305 days, missing 64 games for club and country. When he was finally fit again, Barça rushed him back, with more senior forwards failing to perform. 

Fati hasn’t been the same since, unable to shake the damage done to his knee. He now finds himself unable to break into a struggling Brighton side, with manager Roberto De Zerbi calling him out, saying Fati is ‘not doing enough for the team’. 

Xavi has confirmed he’ll be leaving Barcelona at the end of the season, so with no replacement confirmed as of yet, chances for La Masia graduates may dry up. The Socios tend to be less forgiving of coaches that aren’t one of their own. 

Trusting in teenagers like Barcelona currently appear to be doing produces immense value for minimal financial input, it’s now just a case of management. Running these youngsters into the ground like they have done in the past could prove disastrous.

Winning silverware this season is looking unlikely, but it could be a stepping stone to yet another golden era for La Masia and Barcelona. Only time will tell.  

(Cover image from IMAGO)

You can follow every Barcelona game live with FotMob — featuring deep stats coverage including xG, shot maps, and player ratings. Download the free app here.