Barcelona’s La Masia XI that found success elsewhere

Fullbacks: Hector Bellerin and Jordi Alba

Alba and Bellerin successfully converted from wingers to fullbacks

Hector Bellerin and Jordi Alba have a couple of things in common. Both players left La Masia before completing their football education and both players started their careers as a winger. Yes, two of the quickest fullbacks in the world right now were wingers when they were at the Barcelona.

Alba was released in 2005 because he was deemed too small. He then joined Cornellà which was another club based in Catalonia. In 2007, he moved to Valencia and it was here that he made his successful transition to a left-back.

Due to injury problems, now Arsenal manager, Unai Emery, played Alba as a left-back during the 2009/10 season and because of the player’s success in that role, Emery persisted with Alba as a left-back. In fact, the player has given credit to Emery for his positional change.

Alba returned to Barcelona in 2012 and has become a vital cog in their machinery and is among the best full-backs in the world at the moment.

Bellerin, similarly, left La Masia in 2011 to join Arsenal. It was Steve Bould at Arsenal who helped Bellerin switch positions successfully. He made his debut for Arsenal in 2013 and has so far racked up 162 appearances for the Gunners.

With Unai Emery in charge of the club now, Bellerin can hopefully take bigger strides in his ongoing development and emulate the success of Alba.