Barcelona: 4 youngsters who can lead the club in the post-Messi era

2) Andres Iniesta -> Riqui Puig

Riqui Puig playing against Cultural Leonesa in Copa del Rey

The 19 year old homegrown midfielder currently plays for Barcelona B under Garcia Pimienta.

Riqui Puig was playing for Jabac Terrassa when Barcelona acquired his services in 2013 and since then he was with the club. His father was also a footballer in his time and represented Terrassa FC.

Ricard Puig, more commonly known as Riqui Puig, played his first match for the reserve side in 2018 and since then caught the eyes of many big clubs across Europe. His list of believers includes the likes of Gennaro Gattuso and Mauricio Pochettino, with the latter even travelling to Barcelona to attend a B-side match against Cornella.

Although the reasons are not clear, it is not a long stretch to suspect that observing the young midfielder was one of his objectives.

Riqui Puig was included in the squad that traveled to the United States to participate in the International Champions Cup last year. In the three matches, Barcelona played against Tottenham, Roma and Milan, and Riqui Puig managed to feature in all three of them.

According to reports, Puig could have left the club a long time ago if not for the intervention of Ernesto Valverde. In 2017, the Catalans board decided to let go of Puig due to his 'under development in the physical department', but Valverde, who was the newly appointed coach at that time, vetoed this decision.

Riqui Puig came from the bench in the 55th minute of the second leg of Copa del Rey match against Cultural Leonesa and marked it with a fine performance and provided an assist to Denis Suarez in the 70th minute.

Although Puig hasn't debuted in La Liga, Ernesto Valverde has already started to integrate him into the first team by calling him up for cup matches and is regularly spotted in the training field with the senior side.