Barcelona's top 10 academy graduates

#3 Xavi

Xavi became known as one of the greatest midfielders in football history

Widely recognised as one of the greatest midfielders to ever play the game – and perhaps the best distributor of the ball in football history – Xavi spent a total of 17 seasons embedded in Barcelona’s first team after joining La Masia in 1991 as an 11-year old. Along the way he won a total of 25 trophies, including 8 La Liga titles and 4 Champions Leagues.

The central midfielder first broke into Barca’s first team in the 1998-99 season, but it was in 1999-00 that he really began to shine, given his chance as the side’s primary playmaker ironically due to an injury suffered by Pep Guardiola – who would of course go on to coach Xavi during his greatest seasons at the club.

By the time Guardiola was appointed as Barca boss, Xavi was widely recognised as a somewhat underrated performer, but under his former teammate he became world-renowned for his passing range, playing as the metronome in Guardiola’s tiki-taka system and earning the nickname ‘The Puppet Master’ for his ability to dictate a match. In 2009, 2010 and 2011 Xavi finished in 3rd place in the prestigious Ballon d’Or award – and likely would’ve won had it not been for the brilliance of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.