Recently published in Catalan paper Sport, writer Martí Perarnau takes a closer look at the literal ins and outs of La Masia, namely the players newly joining FC Barcelona’s youth ranks and those that have decided to leave the Club. Where are the players coming from, what teams will they join, who has made way for these new players, and where will the departing players go next? These are just a few of the questions Perarnau examines, as he explores the ways in which the club is reinforcing their youth system model, while adding new nuances in their formative work to continue growing.

The general structure of the formative football blaugrana remains very similar to last season, with the only significant change of the reduction of team size. Some of the various squads had come to accumulate up to 25 players, which made management more complicated, being a stage in which all the players on the team should be participating in games on a regular basis. To avoid this imbalance, the Club has implemented the “rule of 20″ for the coming season, with the intention that any team under the age of 11 will not have less than 19 players or more than 21.

Logically, the number of players added maintains a certain pyramidal progression: 22 players will arrive to the Benjamín category; 14 to the Alevín; 14 to the Infantil; 10 to the Cadete; and 11 to the Juvenil, besides the additions at both ends of the system: five players to the PreBenjamín and a still uncertain figure for Barça B, probably limited to three or four footballers with two already signed: Cristian Lobato (left winger who can also play as a left back) and Kiko Femenía (able to occupy all of the right wing), a center-forward and perhaps another player also.

59 Catalans

In terms of positions, the newly incorporated players show that 9 goalkeepers, 16 defenders, 30 midfield players, and 25 forwards have arrived, though several of these figures are variable, as the roles of play at Barça differ from other teams and what, originally, could be considered a midfield player might be more accustomed to the defense when viewing the blaugrana; and there are many wingers converted to wing backs. By origin, the majority arrive from other Catalunya clubs: a total of 59 players, coming from 32 different clubs around Catalunya.

From Spain, 15 players will arrive at Barça from eleven different clubs, with five footballers from the Eastern coast and four from Sevilla. As for foreigners, six boys will wear the blaugrana shirt: two Koreans, a Dutchman, a Portuguese, an American and a Japanese youngster.

The Catalan Clubs with the most players joining Barça are: Espanyol (7), Cornellà (6, although two were transferred), Mataró (4), Damm (3) and Calella (3). 75% of the Catalan players that arrive, do so in the youngest categories: the PreBenjamín (born in 2004) through Infantil B (1999). From that age (12-13 years) and up through Barça B, the distribution is very different: 14 Catalans, 15 from the rest of Spain and 4 foreigners. This circumstance is typical in the youth football program: the first circle for finding players in the youngest categories is always Catalunya; the second focuses on the rest of Spain, but only after a minimum age; and the third circle, world wide, is only used for very specific cases, given its logistic complexity.

The price of all these additions has not been revealed by the club, but for the most outstanding cases up to 100,000 euros have been paid for training rights for some of the youth that are recruited.

A very important detail guides the work of collecting youth players for the 21 scouts that Barça has distributed throughout Spain: the search for a very specific profile of players that surpass the technical level of the players who have been dropped from the program.

In this sense, holes in the older categories call for the incorporation of footballers that will complete the teams advancing from the younger ranks (Juvenils and Cadets). Goalkeepers such as Juvenil A’s Miguel Bañuz, José Aurelio Suarez or the Cadet’s Guillermo Lara come to cover some of the gaps in goal. In central defense, Rodrigo Tarín, of a similar profile to Alberto Botía, has arrived to the Cadet level. In the midfield, there is strong belief in Joel Huertas and also Cadet bound Albert Torras, from Espanyol. In the offensive positions, still to be defined, there are three players with potential, pending confirmation: Miguel Ángel Sainz-Maza, a midfielder from Racing wanted by Manchester City; Ecuadorian Joel Valencia, of a similar profile; and Sporting’s Juan Mera, who could start the season with Juvenil A and finish with Barça B. City has already signed Denis Suárez, of Celta, who was bound for Juvenil A; and Málaga has put on hold the arrival of Brahim Abdelkader, although Barça continues to have his father’s signature held in force.

Six foreigners

The six foreign players that arrive at the club belong to five different nationalities. At ten years old, Japanese forward  Takefusa Kubo will not live at La Masia, but in a private residence with his mother. Kubo had a trial in the middle of April at the Ciutat Esportiva and convinced the coaches, just like midfielder Ben Lederman, 11 years old, the first American to join Barça. Two Koreans born in 1998 and called Jang and Lee will be incorporated into Infantil A. Both players were spotted playing with the Korean national team and finally accepted places at La Masia after the Danone Cup played in South Africa. A Portuguese and a Dutchman complete the list of new foreign players: in this case, both will join Infantil B, but their contracts are just now nearing completion.

The continuation of the three coaches of the last stages before Barça B (Óscar García and Sergi Barjuán in Juvenil A and B and García Pimienta in Cadet A) guarantees the progression in the football formation of the chosen players and their preparation for professional careers. They are three exacting coaches that next season will have better and more cohesive teams, having reduced the team size to 20 players.

85 Dropped

In the opposite direction, 85 footballers have left or are on the verge of leaving. Some are well known. From Barça B, Víctor Vázquez, Nolito, Edu Oriol, Abraham, Benja and, probably, another five more, have transferred clubs, with a few having buyback options. From Juvenil A, midfielders Pepe Palau (Villarreal C) and Jordi Masó along with forward Etock (Chelsea) have decided to leave the blaugrana. About 10 players are leaving from Juvenil B, three to Espanyol, although Barça has refused to officially confirm the departures from the formative youth levels. From Cadet A, there has been plenty of coverage of the departures of Toral and Bellerín to Arsenal and Pol García Tena to Juve, as well as that of Belana and Navarro to Espanyol and la de Mara to Málaga. In total, 85 footballers have abandoned the blaugrana cantera, with Espanyol the biggest beneficiary of the exits (taking between 8 and 10 of the departed players). Four players from the Eto’o Foundation have been dropped by the Club. In the case of Juvenil’s Gael Etock, the player has secured a move to Chelsea. As for the youngest players (Adamu, Cámara and Mandela), their leaving is in response to new criteria with regard to the boys coming from Cameroon, referring more to age rather than size.

All in all, the Barça B team will contain some 25 players; those of the Juvenil, Cadet, and Infantil will have 20 players each; while the Alevin, Benjamin, and PreBenjamin teams with have an average of 12 children per team.

In total, 253 players will be available for continued growth at Barça, slowly progressing, at La Masia and the Ciutat Esportiva.