Four B team players will join the first team next season
Announced last week by sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta in a radio interview, today FC Barcelona’s official site has confirmed the promotion of Marc Muniesa, Marc Bartra, Jonathan dos Santos and Martín Montoya to the first team beginning next season. After Barça B’s 4-0 win over Cartagena at the Minestadi, two of the players, Muniesa and Bartra, had the chance to express their delight with the promotion. Muniesa confessed, “I’m very happy. It’s a dream that little by little has come true.” Bartra’s feelings were similar: “Playing for the first team is a dream I’ve had since I was little.”
Muniesa: more mature, more calm
Marc Muniesa debuted with the first team in 2009 on May 23, in a match between Barça and Osasuna in which the defender was sent off. Since then he has grown a lot. “Psychologically I’m stronger. More calm with the ball and when I’m under pressure. Also I’ve matured physically,” he explained, conscious that for now, he will remain with the B team until the summer. “I know that for now my role is here in the reserves. I plan to continue working and what is to come, will come.” He also had words of praise for first team coach Josep Guardiola: “He has trusted in me and now I hope to return that [trust].”
Bartra: living in the present to improve in the future
Like Muniesa, Marc Bartra also prefers to focus on the present: “I try to always live in the moment and to appreciate the experiences now to be better when [I] arrive at the first team. FC Barcelona has given me everything and now, having the opportunity to be part of the best team in the world, it’s what every player wants,” said the defender, who was also excited with the fact that there are so many players from the youth ranks in the first team.
Source: fcbarcelona.cat; Image credit: Miguel Ruiz (FCB)
And Pique should join the B Team.
many plus here from the fake fans
Don't cry, Shakira.
oh come on, not every player in the world will be on form every moment, take a look at Villa, even Messi.
Form? He played like a lazy teenager! Two goals killed the game and made us so nervous. He's getting worse evrery month since the World Cup.
Last season he played only because of Puyi's and Abi's injuries.
Pique has been in bad form latelly, but from his arrival back till this season, he was outstanding. Abi was fielded in CB only when Pique/Puyol were unavailable… Abi never had his place over Pique as CB. Remember Rafa Marquez… first years he was flawless…. after that…
I cannot agree with yuo more. His performaces have hit very low. It is not just Osasuna match, whole season (except for couple of matches) his atttitude on the pitch sometimes unprofessionally unserious. He must rethink if he really wants to be in this team.
Zio, criticizing Piqué's form this year doesn't make one a fake fan, it makes one an honest & realistic fan. He should be benched for a couple games to send him a message about concentration and regaining his form. I would hate for him to become what Ronaldinho became.
he didn't critique his form. he said he should be sent to the B team….clearly not the same thing.
and his further replies show that it's not just a poor attempt at a joke.
of course its a tongue in cheek comment, with a grain of truth, just like all good jokes!
Yes, Kevin it was a joke, not literally sending Piqué to the B squad. We should have high expectations of him as Barça fans, especially since he was on the all FIFA Team.
as it quote from him above
"Form? He played like a lazy teenager! Two goals killed the game and made us so nervous. He's getting worse evrery month since the World Cup. "
Pique did worst last season??? can you see he just a long-term haters
learn to take a joke
now can you tell me how to make a joke about messi who miss penalty and fab miss chance against Villareal? its not even funny at this time!
Good now I can order my JDS shirt
he is shit, they should promote all three defenders and tello.
Tello is indeed the one i miss in this list!
But for jonathan its now or never, should at least get his chance!
Next are sergi, rafinha and deulofeu!!!
shit is your food, not JDS
How can you say that?! Jonathan is absolutely amazing and in my opinion the only one (maybe also Montoya) from the list who is ready for the first team. His passing, movement, energy, vision and awareness is fantastic. He is the closes thing that we have to Xavi and I actually think that lots of Barca fans actually underate him. He is not as flashy as Sergi Roberto and Thiago because he is abit less attacking minded and maybe that's why he gets less recognition.
good post davidwan23
The Marc's are ready to take the first team by storm lol. I'm getting both their shirts
Congrats to all of them and hopefully they can remain in the first team and bring us glories. Tello should be a first team player now, I don't understand why he doesn't get promoted too.
Its not very often you see a club with such trust in its youth players, huge respect to Pep and Barca!
Wow, sorry to break the party guys, but we are goint to be terrible in defence next year!!
All of those 4 kids are so unexperienced and lack the flair that Tello, Cuenca, Dolofeu, Espinosa, Rafinha have…
Strange decision to move all 4 to Barca A..
I love La Masia too, but Gio dos Santos could play, Jonathan is just plain awkward and make 50 mistakes every match…
exactly my thought but i think bartra and montoya will do fine. JDS will follow his broither's footstep.
U compare Bartra, Muniesa and Monotoya with Tello, Deulofeu and Rafinha??
Thats like saying Messi and Iniesta got more flair than Pique and Puyol!!
Besides.. U know Cuenca already got promoted right????
I think this is great news people!!! Hope they also add Tello to this list……
I hope you're right
What is wrong with you?! How the hell does Jonathan make 50 mistakes every game, he bare makes any mistakes! He is very reliable with the ball, has great passing, vision and movement. I mean, are you serious?! i really don't get why people don't rate him.
Have you watched him play for Barca A? Even for Barca B he makes serious blunders. He had to replace Busquets for 1 match and he almost gave away 2 goals to the oponent
I hope he proves me wrong but JDS and those physically weak guys will make our defence vulnerable.
Seems everyone's got their pink glasses on cause they come from La Masia.
Especially for Jonathan. He's the next big promise like poor old Bojan Krkic who never grew up to be a man, not a boy and a prospect
JDS is a midfielder not a defender so you mustve not seen him play his position
Flair + defending = bad combination
Defending + position = great combination
Flair doesn't mean you aren't a good player. Ask Xavi and Busquets. Even Messi doesn't have a lot of flair. His playing style is extremely simple but he is just so amazing at it
OFF TOPIC: Yesterday, I accidentally broke my mums nose. I was emptying the dishwasher, and I didn't notice she was behind me. As I swinged my hand, my elbow hit her nose, and it broke. Guess what she did? She just went to sit on the sofa, and fixed it herself. After that she just sat for a short while, and then she continiued doing the household. She is a freaking hero.
Now, how this involves in football? Well, god knows what a war it would be if Alves broke Cristiano's nose. I think Cristiano could have quit football because of massive pain
The point is that footballers are spoilt brats. One does not even touch your face and here you are grinding on the floor crying like a little footballer. And whats even funnier? Even though they do this, they still get paid millions for doing the most enjoyable thing ever. What does my mum get for the household? Nothing.
(oww)!hope she is fine now.
what you said is true though.
lol "off topic" is an understatement! Hope your mum's nose heals soon!
wth get her to the hospital, kid.
not all footballers, but all ATHLETES……..why? athletes have no brain, god give them plenty of athletic abilities, but zero brain, thats why all of athletes from all of the sports acts like spoled brats all the time……..we are far more smarter than athletes
They should promote all three defenders and tello n leave sergi n jds behind. Espinosa and rafinha are much better,
Tello > those guys.
no Oier? if we promote them, it would be no buy back for Botia
Oier doesn't need to be promoted. We still have Pinto as our back up (although I'd prefer Oier or Mino) and Oier can be called up to the first team whenever we need him even if he stays with Barca B
yeah i think this is the right answer
Stop writing off JDS that’s wat u guys said about Busquets and Pedro the one that makes it is the you less expect it from he worked so hard to get where hes at and plus stay knowing what he’s up against even Johan cruyff said he’s got something to show. They wouldn’t promote someone that doesn’t got a chance.
Tello should def be there
I'm sure tello will be given opportunities, but assuming they're all fit having villa, pedro, sanchez, and cuenca competing for the 2 attacking positions, with iniesta, afellay, fabregas (?!) as backups if needed, he might be best gaining experience with barca B. My guess is keita may leave in the summer allowing mascherano more opportunities in midfield and freeing up some opportunities for the young defenders.
In my opinion Tello should be a starter from next season, very honestly. Every time I saw him he really amazed me. Every single time. He is just awesome! My starting line-up for the coming season would be Tello-Messi-Sanchez with Afellay-Villa-Pedro/Cuenca as their backups but I don't see this happen.
i guess its because of their contracts… barca dont want to loose a player which has been through la masia for nothing… guess thos four players wouldnt accept a barca b contrac for the next 4 years…and if they god promoted they can be sold for more money if needed
hope tello,rafinha gets promoted… dont think cuenca will make it long at barca like that guy but i think so…
Not a big fan of Muniesta, he's shown to be injury prone and more of a liability over the last couple of years.
Congratulations to all of them!
Hope they go on to have successful careers!
Is this a sign that we wont buy any players next season?
I had the same question. I would think the team needs to buy some help in the defense instead of relying solely on newly promoted defenders. Thoughts anyone?
Have a look at the age of Barça's defenders: Abidal & Puyol = 30+, Piqué, Mascherano & Alves = 25+! In my opinion, the next generation of defenders should be around 20. Pep obviously found them at La Masia: Bartra (the "new Piqué"?) & Muniesa (the "new Puyol"?) are promising talents and complement each other perfectly.
Let's hope "Pep's new boygroup" will fight for the playing time like Cuenca & Tello have done so far!! Muniesa is one of those rare & versatile "lefties" like Abidal, so he might be a valuable option next season.
what about fontas and botia buy back optian he may be bought if gijon relegates or next yr 2013/ 14
Fontas is a trash emptier.
In my opinion, promoting players from la masia is way better than buying players because players from la masia are born cules, they don't play for money or for their fame, they play for their club and their fans.
Really great news! If now Pep replaces JDS for Tello everything would be fine!
Montoya and Bartra are amazing you guys… stop being such haters
and you guys comparing Bartra to Tello are idiots. Bartra is a defender and Tello is a forward you cant compare them to one another.
You broke your Mams nose! And you tell people! hahahhahaahahaaa!
You are a legend!
Get well soon Mam
why jonathon ds santos.He should be sold asap.Why not Tello?
Maybe they are saying JDS will be promoted to the 1st team in order to drive up his transfer market value; maybe it means that Keita will be sold, we'll see.
we have pedro, villa, sanchez, cesc, messi, cuenca and affelay. even iniesta can play as a winger. so that's maybe the reason why tello hasn't been promoted yet.
BUT:
1.) maybe he will be promoted, too… we don't know
2.) arsenal, chelsea & co. will be interested in tello. they will promote him to make sure he'll stay
http://www.barcelonafootballblog.com/11564/lets-t… Read comment about Tello
Barca still have to buy a top class centre back because Puyol is ageing and we can’t rely on youngsters in defense, look how bad fontas has been. I strongly believe mats hummels is our best choice. Pique-hummels partnership would make the strongest defense in the world.
Dos Santos has done really well for the first team when called upon, especially against Valencia in a deep role.
He has earned his chance.
Just because everybody is amazed by Tello does not mean that JDS is a nobody. If you actually watched him you would notice that his distribution is good, and he is a great long passer, plus he is quicker than Busquets if that is any consolation
I do however wonder what will happen to Fontas. I personally don't see that talent that he supposedly has, other than just good passing, and Muniesa and Bartra will likely overshadow him
Good one barcaholic, from now on fontas should be called the “trash emptier”.
I can see there’s a very big fontas haters’ group among the barca fans. Pep, why did you promote him when you don’t even trust him yourself???
Here's one for the culés out there (and saying neither is not an option): Fontás or Chygrynskiy, if Barça were forced to field one of these defenders next year, which would you choose?
Hey Amanda,
I really appreciate your work and i was wondering if you have email or fb? I'm going to visit barca this week and i'm looking for some tips about training and youth matches. You can also contact me "maartendewachter@gmail.com".
grtz
For me Marc Bartra is the better one in defence, better than Muniesa.
Marc Bartra is a leader and very smart player on and offside the match.
I really would like to see him play once beside Puyol or Pique or even Masci.
Montoya was nominated for the spanisch National team and that says everything about him.
Tello, Marc Bartra, Montoya, for me they are our Future.
I dont think that Sergio Roberto will have a chance among Cesc, Thiago, Busquets, Iniesta, not for the next 3 or 4 years.
This means some Barca B summer signings and juvenile promotions to keep them competitive in the segonda
But does that mean no hummels or thiago silva in the summer?
it was never an option.
the one who would deserve to be promoted most is TELLO. he is at the moment more dangerous than any other striker we have. he is even better than pedro, villa and cuenca.
I think JDS and Montoya are 100% ready for the first team, Bartra is a great CB with great potential but I think he needs to work a bit on his strength, same with Muniesa. Muniesa should be started off at LB first before being moved centrally. The potential is there for all these players.
once fontas recovers from injury and gets consistent playing time he'll come good. you can't expect a player to be on top form if he plays one match out of 10 or so (prior to his injury). that injury surely has halted his progress, but if given time and confidence he'll develop into a fantastic centre back.
I agree that our first priority should be to find substitutes for our awesome but aging defenders. Promoting the youngsters sooner will allow gradual integration and mentoring by Abidal and Puyol.
We will have an overabundance of strikers once our injured players return, so I see why there was no rush to promote Tello. However, the kid is so talented that someone else may snatch him up in the meantime… in which case I sure hope we can bring him back to Barcelona one day!
"today FC Barcelona’s official site has confirmed the promotion"
Where is the official annoucment? I can"t find it…
I think the question of what happens to Fontas is really important here, because I suspect that, for these four new guys, their situation will be similar to Fontas's. My guess is that they get promoted at a time when they have really progressed as far as they can progress in the B-team. They are welcomed into the A-team and given the chance to shine (first, proving their abilities on the training field, and winning occasional games, like playing Copa Del Rey). If they don't take that chance, I guess they'll move on pretty quickly.
Fontas was unlucky – he injured himself at exactly the wrong moment. But let's face it, he hadn't set the world on fire to that point. I suspect he'll be sold at the end of this year. And if he is, that will probably mean that these other four guys will facing the same kind of pressure: prove that you belong, or move along.
With JDS's promotion, I suspect Keita will be sold as well. And the question of whether they resign Romeu from Chelsea will be deferred until the following year, once they've seen how JDS performs.
Of the 4, I think Montoya's spot is safest. Barca will never find anybody to compete with Alves for the first-choice right back spot, but need a back-up. How could you find better quality than Montoya without being able to offer much playing time?
Personally, I hope JDS grows into the first team well. I think the player whose absence has made the biggest difference this season is Sergio Busquets. When he's there, the machine works well. When he's out (or playing defense) the machine splutters and stalls. Having another option to control the transition from defense to the midfield creators is vital.