FC Barcelona: Win of the youth system

khaled_a_d

Senior Member
Not all young players are ready to start from the top, what some young players achieved is admirable but it doesn't mean we made wrong decision to not fight and pay them whatever the money they want in order to stay.

Olmo is good, but he left in 2014 and took him over 5 years to reach Leipzig, a team that isn't even the level of Barca. And even right now it will be a waste of his talent to be here, too good to warm the bench here and not good enough to be starter.

Grimaldo needed sometime in Benfica to be a starter there, so he left to be a back up in much inferior team before developing into starter.

Morey is starting his career in BVB at 20 and he was a back up last year iirc, already dragged the club twice in renewal.

Easy to look at those and say "we should have kept them" but truth is, there might have been better starting at less competitive clubs than ours where you need to be elite and early bloomer at same time in order to make it here with very rare exceptions
 

Bobo32

Senior Member
I am not arguing if specific players should've stayed or not, I am simply saying la masia still produces players that amount to something.
And that they amount to something elsewhere is even stronger proof, they should've had it easier to perform at Barcelona.
I do not agree that you should need to be elite and an early bloomer, it should be known by the whole club the profiles and potential of the youth players. If there is potential, the club should be aware of it and make them have a good path to the first team in a time that they are ready.

I think some of the players that was missed were players we maybe are not even aware of or remember now - like Pedro or Busquets would've been if the stars didn't align perfectly then.
 

serghei

Senior Member
La Masia teaches players to play Barca's brand of football, which believe it or not, is not that common and rarely took over by other teams. Only Ajax play something similar. I don't believe juego de posicion or Totaalvoetbal is a myth. It's very much a philosophy deeply engrained in the club since Cruyff become a leading figure in the 70s, but one which is not shared by many clubs. Most clubs have a physical, counter-attacking style.

Besides, if players make it at other clubs is not the point of our youth teams. La Masia teaches players to adapt to FC Barcelona senior's first team. That's the main goal and the only goal tbh. Everything else is secondary. Of course, at Barca B there will be players that stray away from our core identity and bring in different things to the table (Ilaix if you may), and these players are usually the ones who leave. But the ones who identify with our values and our way of playing (usually those technical, creative midfielders since our style is midfield centric to extreme) don't have many chances of making it at other top teams if they aren't good enough to make the step to Barca's main team.

Some call this view purist or Cruyff fanaticism, but the best periods in the club's history have a direct link to this way of playing. We were at our best when we were true to ourselves, not when we tried to mimic other clubs. As usual though, extremism in either direction is the root problem. You can be a possession team who excels in positional attacks, but it doesn't mean you can't up your counter-attacking game as well and be direct or defend when the game requires it.
 
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JamDav1982

Senior Member
The youth systems in other clubs and way they train players techincally is much more common to Barca than in the past.

Not nearly as unique as it was as clubs took note, took coaches and implemented a lot of ideas into their own academies once seen how much success the club had with it and the success Barca had playing a certain way.

La Masia was unique but isnt anymore as clubs caught up and they also started to compete with the type of players Barca look to bring in and then also compete for players Barca have before they turn professional more than in past.

It used to be La Masia looked for a different type of player than most other clubs, developed them in a different way and had a wider pool to pick players up in with less competition.

All that is gone and it is more or less just another academy competing for same players as others and developing them in largely same way.
 

Messi983

Senior Member
FT - Barca Juvenil A 2-0 Bayern U19. Goals by Luzzi & Casas. Great game by Barca, a masterclass in possession based attacking football. Solid performances from almost the entire team. 5-0 would've a more fair score given how the game went with better finishing. #UEFAYouthLeague

Great start.
 

Porque

Senior Member
A good physical technical beat a good technical side.

That was the difference today. I only watched until 70 minutes and will take the game for what it was before the sending off (which should have probably been a yellow) and where it was 2-0.

Let's see how the team play in the home fixtures against Benfica.
 

FinBarcelonafan

Well-known member
A good physical technical beat a good technical side.

That was the difference today. I only watched until 70 minutes and will take the game for what it was before the sending off (which should have probably been a yellow) and where it was 2-0.

Let's see how the team play in the home fixtures against Benfica.

Benfica has one of the best youth programs in the world. I guess no shame to lose against them. Barca should probably review LaMasia and see what they could improve though.
 

Messi983

Senior Member
Bayern don't need to care about their youth teams, they have feeder clubs all over the Bundesliga to develop players for them.
 

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