5 Barcelona youngsters in danger of being sold

As we approach the final moments of 2015, Barcelona will be casting envious glances across a marketplace that they’ve been unable to inhabit for the last 18 months. Far from being kids in a candy store, the club will want to ensure that funds are invested wisely during the January transfer window.Should they dip their toes in the water again however, it will leave one crop of players waiting anxiously until the end of the month. The club ought to be cautious of letting promising youngsters go, having previously burned their hands with the likes of Thiago Alcantara, Cesc Fabregas and Gerard Pique. On the other hand, there are some who are clearly not up to the mark.Here are five Barca players who are in danger of being sold…

#1 Marc Bartra

Marc Bartra has been unable to cement the centre back position

Marc Bartra can feel the most hard done by of the group.

The youngster has been in and around the first team picture for five years now but has never really made one of the central defensive positions his own. Gerard Pique is a certainty to play when fit, but that each manager from Guardiola to Enrique has often preferred a natural defensive midfielder in the other centre-back role speaks volumes.

Bartra has previously trotted out the party line that he’ll continue to work hard to change the manager’s mind, but thus far it’s fallen on deaf ears and the player isn’t getting any younger. At 24 years of age, arguably it’s now or never for Bartra, and a recent change of agent to Carles Puyol hints at a new direction for the player.

His loyalty to the club is laudable, but accusations of a lack of ambition will follow him around if he doesn’t make a move soon.

Barca will be aware that his stock still remains high at this juncture and that perhaps it’s time for them to cash in.

#2 Sergi Samper

Samper has multiple clubs interested in him

Sergi Samper has been talked about as a natural successor to Sergio Busquets for what seems like an age now.

Still only 20, Samper has a lot of growing to do in a professional sense before he is ready to take the crown from the master, but in order to do so, he needs games under his belt. A decent pre-season aside Samper has barely featured, Luis Enrique preferring to observe the talents of Gerard Gumbau at close quarters.

The inability of the player to force his way into the senior side on a regular basis is beginning to stagnate his growth, which isn’t helped by having to carry a Barca B side that now languish in the third tier of Spanish football, the Segunda B division. Clearly too good for that particular league, with the greatest of respect, either Samper isn’t yet considered good enough for La Liga or, more likely, there isn’t room for him at Barcelona.

Arsenal are one club waiting in the wings and a January sale with a buy back clause seems the most likely option.

#3 Munir El Haddadi

Munir’s path to the first team is the hardest

When you have Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez as your front three, arguably the best striking trio to have ever played the game, you are going to have to be something special to dislodge them from their perch.

Munir El Haddadi is a workaholic but has shown over the last 16 months that he isn’t yet ready to make a splash with the big boys. When he burst onto the scene at the beginning of 2014/15, the talk was of the Catalan’s mining another gem from their academy La Masia. A fine debut performance, capped by a goal against Elche, meant his was the name on everyone’s lips.

Caps for Spain’s U21 and senior side followed within six weeks and it appeared a matter of time before the youngster exploded onto the European scene.

Unfortunately for both player and club, it proved to be another false dawn.

A mixture of sporadic appearances and failure to impose himself on a game when given the opportunity, quickly saw his confidence nosedive. To the point where his two goals against Villanovense recently were his first since that debut 15 months before. Even two months in the side when Messi was injured didn’t see a change in fortunes.

It would be best for all parties to have Munir seek out new pastures.

#4 Sandro Ramirez

Sandro is on his way out of the club

Although an entirely different sort of striker to Munir, Sandro Ramirez has endured much the same fate as his colleague. A youngster who was banging in goals for fun in the B team found that the well ran dry whenever he made the step up.

Coincidentally, his first goals in over a year came on the same night as Munir’s brace. Once his opener came along there was never any doubt that he would add to his tally on the night and a hat-trick was the reward for his industry.

Like El Haddadi, Sandro is a grafter. He perhaps just lacks that little bit of quality that Barca expect of their staff. With other players now coming through the youth ranks behind him, it’s unlikely he or Barca would want to take a backward step. The only obvious solution to the problem is for him to look for a new club.

Newcastle United are one of many that are monitoring developments.

#5 Alejandro \"Alex\" Grimaldo

Grimaldo is the third choice left-back, but his quality can surely tempt other clubs

Last but not least, another jewel in the crown, Alejandro Grimaldo.

Barca B’s youngest ever player at 15 years of age, he is now captain of a side in danger of sinking even further into the depths of Spanish football’s regional league format. That simply cannot be allowed to happen but in renewing Adriano Correia’s contract despite the Brazilian initially expressing a preference to leave, it has blocked Grimaldo’s route into the first team.

A move by the club that makes very little sense on the face of it. When there has been an opportunity with the seniors for Grimaldo to get a run out, Luis Enrique has chosen Adriano or even Jeremy Mathieu to fill in at the left back slot.

The player has been frustrated by the manager’s lack of dialogue and has made noises concerning a move away. Clearly he would prefer to stay put but if he wants to progress rather than regress, then inisisting Barca move him on is the only realistic option for career progression open to him at this stage.