Top 3 most successful Barcelona outcasts this season

#2 Thiago Alcantara

Thiago Alcantara is one of Barcelona's academy products

The Spanish playmaker is also one of La Masia products who, unfortunately, could not gain a foothold in Barcelona's first team. Everybody knew how talented Alcantara was in his 4 seasons spell at the Catalans main squad. After all, he is the son of Brazilian famous player Mazinho and, it is only normal if people expect the 27-year-old to be a shining star.

Despite his immense talent, Alcantara failed to break into the first team and played as a second fiddle to Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta before eventually following Pep Guardiola's footstep to join Bayern in 2013 for a considerable €25 million.

Although he endured some difficulties in his first season in the Bundesliga, he has gradually stepped up to become one of the best midfielders in Europe since. A technically gifted player with endless vision and an eye for goal, the 27-year-old is now attracting interest from many European giants.

He has played mostly as a starter this season and has scored 3 times with 6 assists across all competitions. His outstanding defensive stats have also come as a surprise as he has completed 2.5 tackles and 1.3 intercepts per game.