LA MASIA – Boon or a bane?

 

“Keep passing the ball until their heads spin” – is one of the cheeky mottos of La Masia, the youth club of FC Barcelona. La Masia has been up and running in scouting, training and hence producing exquisite strings of footballers. But is Football Club Barcelona, the principal behind this immaculate organisation, making full use of it? It is a question to be pondered about, especially of late with the transfer policy the club has adopted.

On November 25^th 2012 in the 4-0 league game victory against Levante, after Dani Alves suffered injury in the 14^th minute he was replaced by Martin Montoya. Barcelona vaunted about 76 minutes of an all La Masia XI. It was the first time ever in Europe’s competitive level that a club fielded all eleven players who had graduated from its own youth system. It 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 FC Barcelona has made the full use of it. But one thing to be noted in the line up on that day was that the three players namely Gerard Pique, Franscesc Fabregas and Jordi Alba were odd ones out. They were players who initially left the club and came back after a stint at a few other clubs for a considerable amount of time.

Fabregas left the Barcelona academy in 2003 ‘citing lack of opportunities at the big stage’. He was portraying a huge amount of potential during the time of his departure to Arsenal. At Arsenal, he attained captaincy at the age of just 21. He became a big hit for the Gunners helping them in consistently finishing among the top four in the Premier League. Eventually, owning to ‘lack of silverware’ at Arsenal, he came back to Barcelona in 2011. However he was not able to cement a place in the starting eleven, with Xavi, Iniesta and Sergio Busquets rock solid in midfield. Fabregas left Barcelona and went to Arsenal as a free agent. But he came back for a fee of €29 million with a further €5 million in variables.

Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba left La Masia on 2004 and 2005 respectively. Pique left as a free agent to Manchester United and came back to Barcelona in 2008 for a fee of €5 million. Jordi Alba left to Valencia CF for a lowly €6000 and came back in 2012 for €15 million plus variables.

A bit of simple arithmetic says that on the whole Barca suffered a loss of almost a whopping €54 million plus variables on three of their own players. Coincidentally it 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, performance analysers 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 on 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?

On the Barcelona half of the story, exiting 24 year old Chilean Alexis Sanchez and the ever bubbling 25 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 €5.2 million. In addition to that, the injury prone Dutch international, Ibrahim Afellay is expected to be back at the Camp Nou following a loan spell at Shalke 04. With humungous talents in store in the form of Cristian Tello, Isaac Cuenca, the emerging duo Gerard Deulofeu and Rafinha Alcantara (loaned out to Everton and Celta respectively), a case of acute snafu is expected to pop up for the front three in line-ups 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 8 goals for Barcelona so far in the 2012-2013 campaign. He was only two goals behind Pedro Rodriguez for the season’s tally. Deulofeu is often compared to the likes of Messi and is tipped to become one of the best players in world football. If Messi dependency was the sole qualm, then the solution was in their own backyard at La Masia. The key was to be patient and try different permutations with the existing talent. Tito Vilanova has not been good enough in experimenting different combinations by rotating his players, the trait which was well embedded in Guardiola.

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 extraordinary young 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 years of age. But with the arrival of Barcelona’s prodigal son, the exceedingly talented Fabregas, Thiago’s hopes of filling a position in the Barcelona central midfield has diminished for at least the next 4-5 years. Seeing the lack of opportunities to play, he has decided to leave. The scintillating Barcelona youth is expected to kick start his career under his mentor and former Barcelona coach, Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich where he can get enough playing time so that he is recognized by Vicente Del Bosque and thereby brightening his chances of breaking into the Spanish squad for the World Cup at Brazil, next year. The transfer amount is rumoured to be around €25 million, a real prize catch for the Bavarians. To fill in a void that will blossom, a B team player should be considered. The 21 year old Sergi Roberto who himself rose through the grades of La Masia has shown real temperament to play at the high level and thus he looks like the best choice for promotion. In the middle of all this melodrama in midfield, what added fuel to the fire was the needless signing of Alexandre Song. With a top centre back’s arrival anticipated, Javier Mascherano who has spent most of his Barcelona career playing at centre back is expected to start competing for his beloved primary position of defensive midfield. To sum up, seven players namely Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Fabregas, Song, Jonathan Dos Santos and Mascherano will be vying for three spots in the centre of midfield next season.

This erroneous transfer policy has already done the damage. Neymar’s presence has put a question mark over the future of Deulofeu, Rafa Alcantara, Cuenca and Tello. And the presence of Song and Mascherano has already had its impact on Thiago and will definitely hinder the growth of Jonathan Dos Santos and Sergi 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 by planning a loan move for Deulofeu to Everton where he can get playing time. And Rafinha Alcantara is expected to spend a year at 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 would have to just look at them leaving, exactly like what happened with Oriol Romeu, Mauro Icardi and Gai Assulin to name a few. They would always leave their doors ajar.

Therefore, Barcelona must look to emend their transfer policy. They must go out and out to keep hold of a whole list of B team players comprising of Joseph Ondoa, Carles Planas, Marc Muniesa, Gerard Deulofeu, Javi Espinosa, Sergi Samper, Sergi Roberto, Rafa Alcantara, Kiko Femenia and Jean Marie Dongou. With the proper usage of La Masia, the success is assured to remain in the same vogue with the added advantage of cutting out on superfluous expenditure.

The following list comprises of a few players who graduated out of La Masia, who are playing competitive football 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.

RETURNEES OF BARCELONA: Cesc Fabregas, Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba.

IN OTHER LEAGUES: Oriol Romeu Vidal (Chelsea), Iago Falqué (Tottenham, loan to Southampton), Bojan Krkic (AC Milan), Pepe Reina (Liverpool), Luis Alberto (Liverpool), Mauro Icardi (Internazionale) Jordi Gomez (Wigan), Mikel Arteta (Arsenal), Ignasi Miquel (Arsenal), Thiago Motta (PSG), Gai Assulin (Racing Santander), Nolito (Benfica, loan to Granada) and Victor Vazquez (Club Brugge), Gerard Deulofeu (loan, Everton), Thiago Alcântara (Bayern Munich).

SPANISH LIGA: Trashorras, Ruben Martinez, Sergio Rodriguez (Rayo Vallecano), Fernando Navarro and Botia (Sevilla), Marc Valiente, Peña, Lluis Sastre (Valladolid), Victor Sanchez, Baena, Verdú, Sergio García (Espanyol), Giovanni Dos Santos and Fontàs (Mallorca), Victor Rodriguez (Zaragoza), Nano (Osasuna), Rafinha Alcantara (loan, Celta).

The Catalan resurrection – A frivolous lad’s Friday night #2!

Yeah yeah, you’re right. I’m out of this world now, in a far corner galaxy with only asteroids and…… an internet connection.

The comeback against Athletic Club Milan is one to be remembered for a long long time! What a performance. I saw Guardiola’s Barcelona for the first 75 minutes. I hope they go into the quarter finals with the same aggression, verve and determination. 

Right from the very beginning, the Catalans attacked which paid dividends in just five minutes! Barca looked total domination with the possession, as usual. And this combined play produced a magic in five minutes, from who else? Lionel Andres Messi! The tiki-taka went on like Iniesta, Pedro, Busquets, Messi, Xavi, Messi, BOOOM! Right in the left top corner. They call it the ‘date’ area on a page. Precise finishing. The ball bobbled a bit and the shot looked like a kind of quarter volley (or whatever). When the ball flew off Messi’s side foot, five defenders were surrounding him. Make no mistake, FIVE! God knows how he still managed to place it that well. Totally unable to guess if this guy even looks at the goal before shooting, especially in the games at the Camp Nou. Legendary play, legendary goal, legendary momentum gained to continue the game!

Domination, domination everywhere! Possession was on a high for Barca. They made a few mistakes here and there but it rarely advantaged the visitors from Italy. They were showing no real signs of attack until around the 38th minute when Javier Mascherano headed the ball wrongly in a literally empty Barca half and M’baye Niang got foot hold of the ball. He just had to run around half the length of the field to score past the only defender, who was the goalkeeper Victor Valdes. Niang did everything except a good finish. He bet Valdes and tried to pass the ball into the goal but unfortunately it hit the far post and rolled back into the field only to be picked up by Dani Alves for the next Barca attack.

Seconds after the Niang miss, the Rossoneri paid heavily. Messi again with another brilliant goal to add to his tally. Ambrosini lost out to Iniesta who in turn played the ball on to Messi who looked to be an inch or two in the offside position. But the flag stayed down and Messi took a touch to cut inside, then flashed on the ball which went through the legs of the rushing Phelippe Mexes and into the goal. No chance for Abbiati. 2-0 for Barcelona. The damage created at the San Siro was erased like a pencil mark by Messi in less than 40 minutes at the Camp Nou. He sure silenced the critics, as he was mentioned to be particularly silent against Italian teams. The first half was over in five minutes with both teams heading into the tunnel, level pegging on the aggregate.

The second half started with Barca sticking to the ground rules they adapted, when they started the match. Pass, pass, tiki, taka! It was a magnificent sight, the fluency with which Barca were playing the Joga Bonito. The silent hymns in the Camp Nou were broken in the 55th minute when Xavi fed David Villa who was on the edge of the D box, with an inch perfect pass wonderfully controlled by Villa. Took a touch towards the goal and scored a beauty with his weaker left foot. Curling into the far left corner, this gave Barcelona a lead for the first time in the tie. A much awaited lead after 145 minutes of play. Camp Nou erupted, the sound equivalent to magma coming out of a volcano. Villa delivers when it matters the most. How true. It is high time, the coaches make him a permanent in the starting 11, with Pedro and Alexis alternating the second winger position between them.

Barca were playing wonderfully, created lots of chances until the 75th minute where things started to turn nervy because of the away goals rule. Milan would go through if they scored one goal. Barca started defending for the first time in the match. The last 15 minutes, I was pissing my pants in waiting for the fourth goal from Barca which didn’t happen till 90 minutes. Robinho, Bojan and Muntari were introduced in place of Niang, Flamini and Ambrosini respectively. Robinho played damn well and also almost scored when he came rushing towards a Bojan’s low cross. But Jordi Alba did exceedingly well to see off the ball with a perfect sliding tackle. In the stoppage time, Barca broke for a counter attack with Messi leading from the front. Seeing Alexis’ run, Messi put a through ball which in turn was crossed by Alexis to Jordi Alba who was running at a lightning pace. Alba took a brilliant first touch, one on one with Abbiati, scored through his legs for cent percent completion of the Italian Job.

4-0 on the night, 4-2 on the aggregate, Barca were through to the quarter finals of the UEFA CHampions League for the sixth consecutive time.

Tactically speaking, Barca’s plan B worked like a charm. Jordi Alba remained in defense while Dani Alves went forward and literally operated like a fourth attacker. With Cesc on the bench, it was easier for Iniesta to work with Xavi than when he operated as a winger at San Siro. Defensively, a lot more work needs to be done. But the one good thing is that, Tito Vilanova would be returning within this month after his treatment for cancer, from New York.

The draw for the rest of the tournament is done and Barca are facing a French contingent in the quarters. It’s going to be Paris-Saint Gremain VS Barcelona! The return of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Can’t wait to see the action.

Messi after his crucial first goal to set the tempo

Jordi Alba after finishing the Italian Job

The team celebrating after nullifying the damage done at the San Siro

David Villa after the most decisive third goal

I may have bored you but this itself is a result of my boredom! I’ll try and write about a more interesting subject next week. Until then, open the bottle and say cheers!