While a number of years in the past decade the lack of talent from La Masia to the first team in Barcelona was an important point of conversation, that debate in recent years is regularly by a wave of fresh young talent that comes through. Currently, 12 members of the team of the first team have spent time in La Masia.
However, if you hold the talented young people in their academy system, it has always been a difficult task, and when the first team is doing well, it tends to close more doors for those who get through. The will of Gerard Pique and Cesc Fabregas are perhaps the most famous examples of home -grown talents that had to be bought back, while Dani Olmo is the newest.
According to Sport, Barcelona threatens to lose some of their best talents of their current Under-19 team. Winger Arnau Pradas, who recently scored in the UEFA Youth League against Aston Villa, goal scorer Hugo Alba (22 this season including a brace in the Copa del Rey -final), and Jan Virgili are three of the most obvious cases. Barcelona has an option to unilaterally extend the Virgili contract by a year, but has not presented an offer to Alba or Pradas.
This is despite the fact that all three are part of a group of players, including left back Jofre Torrents, and midfielders Quim Junyent and Brian Farinas who are reserved as potential first team perspectives.
Pradas is also interested in Saudi Arabia, where Barca Atletic Captain Unai Hernandez has recently moved. The lack of a convincing renewal offer was also cited as a reason for the € 6 million exit from Marc Guiu to Chelsea last summer. In addition to the aforementioned trio, Hector Rangel, Farinas, Adrian Gill, Tomas Marques, Alexander Walton, Dani Ferrer and Marcos Parriego no longer have any contract without a contract this summer. Although it happens more often that the deals of youth players are negotiated closer to their disruption, the director of Football Deco, and La Masia Chiefs Jose Ramon Alexanco and Toni Hernandez have a lot of work in the coming months.
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