If you haven’t seen FC Barcelona this season, then you may (or may not) be surprised to learn that this is a very new Barcelona team to the lazy, egotistical one from last year.
New manager, new players, new style—this team is both a hard working team that plays right to the end (as Espanyol and Shakhtar can both testify this week) under new boss Barca legend Pep Guardiola and a high quality one as well, building much of their play around superstar Lionel Messi.
Yet one of the interesting points of this "new Barcelona" has been the rapid rise and success of two of the surprise packages in their team, central midfielder Sergi Busquets and Pedro Rodriguez Ledesma. Both players have graduated from the Barcelona B team (whom Guardiola managed before taking the top job) and have taken to playing at the top level impressively—most notably Busquets, who Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque is believed to be watching closely.
Now Barcelona youngsters stepping up and making the move up effortlessly is nothing new, for instance Xavi and Gabri came through together and looked like they belonged instantly, and before them, current boss Guardiola did a similar thing when he first graduated to Johan Cruyff’s star-packed side.
Carlos Puyol is another example, as are Lionel Messi, Bojan Krkic, Giovani Dos Santos, and Andres Iniesta to name but a few, so to say the rise of Busquets and Pedro is something new would be inaccurate.
But, the fact is that at FC Barcelona, and in fact right across the whole of La Liga, the home-grown players are given a chance at the very highest level from a young age—if you’re good enough, you’re old enough.
If you look across La Liga, you can see home-grown talent in every team. Real Madrid, have Guti, Casillas, Sergio Ramos (I know they signed him but he is Spanish). Sevilla have Diego Capel and Jesus Navas; and Valencia have Vicente, David Silva, David Albelda, Raul Albiol. Need I go on?
In Spain they even have a club who actively refuses to sign foreign players, or even Spanish players, in Athletic Bilbao. This is a club who refuse to sign non-Basque players and actively give chances to Basque youngsters who come through the club’s "cantera" (youth team), and as a result you can see that the club have been rewarded in kind.
Players such as Joseba Exteberria, Ismael Urzaiz, Pablo Orbaiz, Asier Del Horno, Yeste, and recently Markel Susaeta and Javi Martinez have come through their youth system and have all helped Athletic Bilbao continue to prosper in La Liga as well as enjoyed prosperous careers themselves.
Could you imagine an English club doing that?
And perhaps that is the biggest problem; in England, youth is never given its chance, never given its head. When you examine not only the first teams in the Premiership, but also their youth teams, you see a fundamental lack of home-grown players and an over-reliance on foreign players, and especially foreign youngsters—mostly poached from Spain.
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2 months ago
A well informed and well written article
2 months ago
Great Article!
2 months ago
Very good Alex
2 months ago
Well written, Alex.
The situation down here in Holland isn't quite as bad as you picture it however. Most teams still have some home-grown talents in the squad and there's still plenty of talent around in the league. One problem however is that foreign clubs (read: English clubs) are coming in to take our talents at younger ages every year.
For instance, Fulham snapped up a youngster from my favourite side Fortuna Sittard. Danny Hoesen was only 17 years old and had played a single game for us, before Fulham came along and signed him. He was an U19 international for Holland, but I'm afraid we'll never hear from him again after this early move to Fulham :-(
from about 1 month ago
It is a shame Guido, I read a comment about Jordy Brouwer who signed for Liverpool from Ajax from one of his coaches-he felt that Jordy was a good prospect who if he had been left alone at Ajax could have developed into a fine player in Eredivisie. Yet he felt at Liverpool, where competition is fierce and quality is high, Jordy could well become lost in the system and as a result stunt his footballing development, arguably forever. It's a shame and is certainly one of modern football's biggest problems
from about 1 month ago
Exactly. Players should not be signed from other clubs at such a young age. This is a form of wel... cradle robbing. These practices are denying Dutch clubs their greatest talents, as we don't have the money to compete with English teams.
2 months ago
One thing you forgot to mention was the fact that since Italian clubs have faced financial boundries in their bids to lure better players (overall, Milan and Inter still attract the world's finest) they have HAD to invest in their youth systems. Look at Juve, the squad they possess is flowing with young italians with enormous talent.
Too much money has meant there is no point in investing in one's academy for English clubs that's why nations such as brazil, argentina and italy do so well internationally. Most clubs there can't afford to invest in foreign talent so they grow their own stars. Who was the last player from Man Utd's youth team or Liverpool's or even Chelsea's?
Good article, you touched on a good subject here, If a bit longer would have been even better.
Peace !!!
from about 1 month ago
That is true, Italian football is certainly enjoying a resurgence in youngsters coming through, after the peak period of foreign players involved in Serie A in the late nineties. Certainly Juve are producing a number of young Italian players who are beginning to graduate to the full international scene, Chiellini is a prime example, though my personal favourite is Giovinco-a player who looks every inch a star in the making. Certainly if you were to compile a list of top young players around the world then their would be a number present from Serie A, Balotelli, Acquafresca, Giovinco, De Silvestri etc. Hopefully their development, and their involvement in Serie A will help produce a strong Italian team for years to come.
2 months ago
Good point you made here! The cash flowing into the game has direct impact on the development of home grown talent!
Excellent article mate!
***** from my side! :)
about 1 month ago
I find it really appropriate that what I have written since my arrival in here are filling in onto what has already been written. My articles about foreign player freedom and national teams fit in with this.
I would really love to have a debate on the issue with all who are interested. We apparently have different point of views.
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