La Masia: A profit-loss quandary for FC Barcelona

La Masia: where stars are made (Getty Images)

“Keep passing the ball until their heads spin,” is one cheeky motto of La Masia, the academy of FC Barcelona. La Masia has been producing a lost list of exquisite footballers for years now, but is Barcelona making full use of it? That is a question to be pondered, especially of late, considering the transfer policy the club has adopted.

On 25th November 2012, in the 4-0 victory against Levante, after Dani Alves suffered an injury in the 14th minute, he was replaced by Martin Montoya. Barcelona played the rest of the game with an all La Masia XI. It was the first time ever in Europe’s competitive level that a club fielded eleven players who had graduated from its own youth system.

That sent shockwaves across the globe, to say the least. Looking at the issue from that perspective, one could evidently say La Masia has been markedly successful and Barcelona has made the full use of it.

But one thing to be noted in the line up on that day was that three players, namely Gerard Pique, Cesc Fabregas and Jordi Alba, were the odd ones out. They were players who had initially left the club, and later come back after a stint elsewhere.

Fabregas left the Barcelona academy in 2003, citing a lack of opportunities at the big stage. He showed a huge amount of potential after moving to Arsenal. And while in England, he captained the Gunners at just 21 and helped them consistently finish among the top four in the Premier League.

Eventually, owning to a ‘lack of silverware’ in North London, Fabregas returned to Barcelona in 2011 on a €29m deal (€5m in add-ons). However, he has thus far been unable to cement a regular starting place in the side, with Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets ahead of him in the pecking order. Fabregas left Barcelona and went to Arsenal as a free agent.

Pique and Alba left La Masia in 2004 and 2005 respectively. Pique joined Manchester United on a free transfer and returned in 2008 for €5m. Alba left for Valencia for a meagre €6,000 and returned in 2012 on a deal worth €15m plus variables.

A bit of simple arithmetic tells us that Barcelona suffered a loss of about €54m on three of their own players. Coincidentally, that happens to be around the same amount of money with which they lured the Brazilian starlet Neymar from Santos, earlier in the transfer window. Ergo, the basic functionality of the sporting directors and performance analysers of the club come under question.

The arrival of Neymar raised a few significant eyebrows including that of one of the most prolific men in the history of the club, Johan Cruyff. The former Ajax veteran was quoted as saying “I imagine he’s very good; I haven’t seen him, but the important thing is to put together a team. I wouldn’t put two captains in the same boat. We have experienced the difficulties in that.”

Ronaldinho was the captain of the ship for five years, from 2003 to 2008, but was eventually eclipsed by Lionel Messi. Does this trend suggest that Neymar will cast his shadow upon Messi?

That’s just half the story. The sub-plot hasn’t scratched the surface yet. Exiting 24-year-old Chilean Alexis Sanchez and 26-year-old Pedro Rodriguez are expected to peak in the coming season, while David Villa, 31, has already left the Camp Nou to join Atletico Madrid for a cheap €5.2m.

In addition to that, injury-prone Dutch international Ibrahim Afellay is expected to be back at the Camp Nou following a loan spell at Shalke 04. Furthermore, with the likes of Cristian Tello, Isaac Cuenca and the emerging duo of Gerard Deulofeu and Rafinha Alcantara (loaned out to Everton and Celta respectively) waiting in the wings, a case of acute snafu could well pop up for the front three in the line-up next season.

Cuenca showed glimpses of brilliance in the few chances he got in Pep Guardiola’s last season, after which he was loaned out to Ajax. Tello proved that he seldom wakes up on the wrong side of the bed by exuding sheer class and scoring eight goals for Barcelona in the 2012-2013 campaign; two shy of Pedro’s tally.

Deulofeu, who is often compared to Messi, is tipped to become one of the best players in world football. If dependency on Messi was the sole qualm, then the solution is in their own backyard. The key is to be patient and try different permutations with the existing talent.

Tito Vilanova, who recently stepped down as Barca manager due to his ongoing fight with throat cancer, kept it simple and never experimented with different combinations by rotating his players; a trait that is well-embedded in Guardiola and was noticeably visible during his reign. Though he has a well-established credential base, the strategies of the new Barcelona coach Gerardo Martino are yet to be seen, discussed and dissected.

The premises of La Masia outlined by the Camp Nou.

A pretty similar scenario prevails in the midfield as well. With Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets in the team, it’s quite admissible that it would be a Herculean task to replace one among them unless issues of injuries or suspensions arise.

This brings one to the curious case of Thiago Alcantara, the extremely gifted La Masia product who was tipped to fill in the boots of Xavi, who in turn is reaching the twilight of his career at 33.

With the arrival of Barcelona’s prodigal son, Fabregas, Thiago’s hopes of filling a position in midfield seemed diminished for at least the next five years. Seeing the lack of opportunities to play, he decided to leave for greener pastures.

The youngster is expected to kick-start his career under his mentor and former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich. Thiago, who scored a hat-trick in the finals of the European U-21 Championships, will hope to get enough playing time to increase his prospects of making Vicente Del Bosque’s squad for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

The transfer amount rumoured to be €25m is a real steal for the Bavarians. But Barca will need someone to fill the void and a B team player should be considered. 21-year-old Sergi Roberto, who rose through the grades of La Masia, has shown real promise and looks the best bet to take Thiago’s place.

In the middle of all this melodrama in midfield, what added fuel to the fire was the needless signing of Alex Song from Arsenal last season. With a top centre-back’s arrival anticipated, Javier Mascherano, who has spent most of his Barcelona career playing in defence, is expected to start competing for his primary position in defensive midfield.

That means eight players, namely Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Fabregas, Song, Roberto, Jonathan Dos Santos and Mascherano, will all be vying for three spots in central midfield next season.

This erroneous transfer policy has already done damage. Neymar’s presence has put a question mark over the futures of Deulofeu, Rafa Alcantara, Cuenca and Tello. Further, the presence of Song and Mascherano has already had its impact on Thiago and will definitely hinder the growth of Dos Santos and Roberto.

To at least mend this problem partially, some of these young talents must be loaned out so as to assess their quality, adaptability and versatility without losing them. Barcelona has done a good job with Deulofeu’s loan to Everton as he will get playing time while Rafinha Alcantara is expected to spend a year in Celta de Vigo, on loan.

If next season is going to be a repeat of the current one for some of these potential stars, Barcelona should be worried as talented youngsters like Oriol Romeu, Mauro Icardi and Gai Assulin have all left in search of playing time.

Therefore, Barcelona must look to emend their transfer policy and ensure that they hold on to the likes of Joseph Ondoa, Macky Frank Bagnack, Carles Planas, Deulofeu, Javi Espinosa, Sergi Samper, Roberto, Rafa Alcantara, Kiko Femenia and Jean Marie Dongou.

With proper usage of their academy, success would be assured for years to come. All they need to do is take advantage of La Masia and cut out on superfluous expenditure.

The following list comprises of players who graduated from La Masia and are currently playing competitively at top leagues across Europe.

Barcelona: Víctor Valdés, Carles Puyol, Andrés Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Xavier Hernández, Marc Bartra, Martín Montoya, Jonathan Dos Santos, Sergio Busquets, Pedro Rodriguez, Isaac Cuenca and Cristian Tello, Cesc Fabregas, Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba.

Across Europe: Oriol Romeu Vidal (Valencia, on loan from Chelsea), Iago Falqué (Tottenham), Bojan Krkic (Ajax, on loan from Barcelona), Pepe Reina (Napoli, on loan from Liverpool), Luis Alberto (Liverpool), Mauro Icardi (Internazionale) Jordi Gomez (Wigan), Mikel Arteta (Arsenal), Ignasi Miquel (Arsenal), Thiago Motta (PSG), Gai Assulin (Racing Santander), Nolito (Celta de Vigo), Victor Vazquez (Club Brugge), Gerard Deulofeu (Everton, on loan from Barcelona), Thiago Alcântara (Bayern Munich), Marc Muniesa (Stoke City).

Spanish Liga: Trashorras, Ruben Martinez, Sergio Rodriguez (Rayo Vallecano), Fernando Navarro and Botia (Sevilla), Marc Valiente, Peña, Lluis Sastre (Real Valladolid), Victor Sanchez, Baena, Sergio García (Espanyol), Joan Verdú (Real Betis) Giovanni Dos Santos (Villarreal), Andreu Fontàs (Celta de Vigo), Victor Rodriguez (Real Zaragoza), Rafinha Alcantara (Celta de Vigo, on loan from Barcelona).