Mavericky Puig

I think it's a difficult situation, personally I think Puig has the potential to be the best La Masia graduate for some years. However, it's his responsibility to further his career if things aren't moving as expected at Barca.

However Barca as a club try and spin the narrative about how they colour football, etc etc etc. The pathway to the first team seems particularly congested in recent years Fati this season being the only exception. Granted there are big name players who are difficult to dislodge but it's more the tendency to buy sub standard squad fillers than trusting the youth and integrating their development. Why buy a Gomes, Boateng, Murillo, Mina, Santos, Digne,Aleix Vidal,Turan, Douglas, Denis when you have the talent in the B and youth team.

They aforementioned players roles were never as serious starters(minus Turan maybe) so why not trust the youth, develop them as footballers, provide first team experience and give encouragement that there is a path to the first team if you have the talent and work hard.

FCBarca said:

No loan has ever worked out in Barcelona's favor in terms of eventually flourishing at the club - it's effectively an exit

This is Barcelona, we are meant to integrate youth and particularly the case when they are special talents. Puig is one of them, he should be playing nowhere else

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Exactly. We're not Chelsea who has 20+ players out on loans, out of which maybe one, max. 2 of them ever make it back. We play our youth, if they're good enough (which Puig obviously is) or we get rid of them for good.

Messi983 said:

Exactly.

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Hmmm, this is very subjective argument that is filled with I "believe/think".
If you believe everyone who was loaned wasn't gonna make it here, sure then loans aren't the one to blame and vice versa.
I think we need to separate youngsters from players we need to get rid of, who has been already with 1st team football for multiple years. As those has nothing to do with loaning or not loaning Puig. So I don't think the likes of Coutinho/Arda/Ibra is valid here.


I think aim of loans is to maximize player potential, whether a player make it here or not is another story.
Maximizing his potential benefit the club in 3 ways:
-He might get good enough to make it here at least as a bench player.
-He increases his value when we sell him.
-The club fulfil their moral obligations toward those youngsters. This very important as football isn't just "business" and it helps the club to retain future youngsters.

So, you can't just base an argument on "he wasn't gonna make it here" anyway. You at least need to do your job and find the best way to develop him and expect the unexpected (Like S.Roberto turning into a starter)

Also, just because a player rebounded from a bad loan, doesn't mean it was a good one. People learn from mistakes and make it learning experience. It doesn't change the fact it is a mistake. A player like Munir moving to Valencia was truly bad for him. A club that was above his level in terms of quality of players and also is a mess that their home grown superstar prefered to come to warm the bench here than staying there.
I don't really think the club has done that in most part. The times when I think we have done really well was:
Cuenca to Sabadell, Rafinha to Celta, Marlon to Nice and Halilovic to Sporting.
I won't give club credit for D.Suarez to Villarreal, they wanted him, Sevilla wanted to sell him, Denis wanted to go. We really didn't have much choice and we aren't the one who picked them for him.
Also, to club credit they forced Halilovic to Sporting when he wanted HSV and they were right. He then forced his way to HSV again and it was proved as a brutal move to his career.

I think we haven't done enough to make fan confidence about their club choices developing players. It seems business factor plays a big role and that they make the decision without thinking it thoroughly.
It doesn't mean loans are bad options, I still think it is the way to go for mid-level talent. Those who have a chance here but are doubtful and I think Puig and Alena are that level of talent. But bad loans could really hurt player development and it might take time to rebound from it.

I'm amazed that people still don't get it. As long as the manager is Valverde no young player will ever make it in the team from Barca B.

Tell me which young player has been promoted during Valverde and gets regular game time. Nobody. You need a progressive manager with a vision who can integrate young players because the system works. Not managers who have no system and have to play experienced players because the whole team is a purely a sum of individuals.

catalinutzR80 said:

He's an idiot. I think he'd rather wait until he's 28 to get a match as a starter vs some relegation team rather than going now to a La Liga team on loan to develop as a player.


Clearly not a future Barca starter.

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What a stupid statement when you dont know jack shit what goes on behind the scenes

A quality player can shine everywhere. If he can't shine elsewhere, how can he shine at Barca? Barca is not playing another sport.

D10S_JC said:

A quality player can shine everywhere. If he can't shine elsewhere, how can he shine at Barca? Barca is not playing another sport.

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So, basically you believe a player from Stoke City has the same tools to succeed and become world class as someone from Barcelona or Real Madrid? It's completely wrong.

fergus90 said:

I think it's a difficult situation, personally I think Puig has the potential to be the best La Masia graduate for some years. However, it's his responsibility to further his career if things aren't moving as expected at Barca.

However Barca as a club try and spin the narrative about how they colour football, etc etc etc. The pathway to the first team seems particularly congested in recent years Fati this season being the only exception. Granted there are big name players who are difficult to dislodge but it's more the tendency to buy sub standard squad fillers than trusting the youth and integrating their development. Why buy a Gomes, Boateng, Murillo, Mina, Santos, Digne,Aleix Vidal,Turan, Douglas, Denis when you have the talent in the B and youth team.

They aforementioned players roles were never as serious starters(minus Turan maybe) so why not trust the youth, develop them as footballers, provide first team experience and give encouragement that there is a path to the first team if you have the talent and work hard.

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Because no matter how bad Turan and Gomes were, all La Masia players are even miles behind them.

In early 2000s we had a monopolly on Spanish youth players and we cheated with buying more than allowed foreign kids.
Our La Masia success is hugely influenced by cheating and monopolly in those times.

Now when we can't cheat anymore and when all other teams have internet and 100s of scouts (and when you remove our once in a lifetime lucky generation), Alena and Puig is the best you can get from La Masia.

Puig is here hailed as some great potential, yet a kid has never been called for any Spanish youth team.

Imagine that: he is too bad for all youth NT teams and you guys see him as a starter for Barca.

Someone is deluded in this story.
And it's not NT coaches who are deluded...

serghei said:

So, basically you believe a player from Stoke City has the same tools to succeed and become world class as someone from Barcelona or Real Madrid? It's completely wrong.

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Many great players come from a club worse than Stoke City.

D10S_JC said:

Many great players come from a club worse than Stoke City.

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Lol. Like who?

serghei said:

Lol. Like who?

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Klose, Drogba, Vardy, Kante

They are not even playing at a professional club at very young age.

khaled_a_d said:

I think we haven't done enough to make fan confidence about their club choices developing players. It seems business factor plays a big role and that they make the decision without thinking it thoroughly.
It doesn't mean loans are bad options, I still think it is the way to go for mid-level talent. Those who have a chance here but are doubtful and I think Puig and Alena are that level of talent. But bad loans could really hurt player development and it might take time to rebound from it.

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I agree. Other than a top manager, loans are the best way to not lose the player.

But, here's the thing. If the board is dumb enough to believe Valverde is a great manager lol, how are they supposed to know what type of loan is the best for a certain player? When you know that type of stuff, you also know Valverde is as average as it gets.

Thing is every aspect of a football team is tied automatically to the persons in charge. When those are suits who know about economics, but are pretty bad at understanding the sport, you get a board with a poor ability to make football-based decisions in the best interest of the team and the players.

D10S_JC said:

Klose, Drogba, Vardy, Kante

They are not even playing at a professional club at very young age.

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And if they were not playing at a professional club at a young age, how were they top players at that time? Drogba became a top player at OM. Vardy at Leicester. These are the clubs where they made the most important part of their progression arch.

Joppe said:

What a stupid statement when you dont know jack shit what goes on behind the scenes

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I always know what goes besides the scenes and my comments are always based as facts.

BBZ8800 said:

Because no matter how bad Turan and Gomes were, all La Masia players are even miles behind them.

In early 2000s we had a monopolly on Spanish youth players and we cheated with buying more than allowed foreign kids.
Our La Masia success is hugely influenced by cheating and monopolly in those times.

Now when we can't cheat anymore and when all other teams have internet and 100s of scouts (and when you remove our once in a lifetime lucky generation), Alena and Puig is the best you can get from La Masia.

Puig is here hailed as some great potential, yet a kid has never been called for any Spanish youth team.

Imagine that: he is too bad for all youth NT teams and you guys see him as a starter for Barca.

Someone is deluded in this story.
And it's not NT coaches who are deluded...

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Alena and puig are potentially better than turan and gomes, but at the moment that's all it is, potential. They haven't shown anything. They may become world class, they may not, but a manager like valverde will never improve them. Busquets or Pedro may never have got a chance if pep wasn't the manager at the time. Pep, klopp, pochettino have shown they can take players to another level in their development. We badly need a manager in that mould