Do La Masia's Finest Need to Leave Barcelona to Further Their Careers?

For a club that is rightly lauded for fundamentally doing things the right way, there is is something amiss in Barcelona at present.

Tata Martino has done a masterful job so far of assuaging the doomsayers, yet the lack of opportunities he has afforded the youngsters in his Barca side is perhaps one cause for concern. In many respects his decisions on youth mirror those of his predecessor Tito Vilanova.

We did get a glimpse into the future during pre-season when Barca B starlets Jean-Marie Dongou and Macky Frank Bagnack made an appearance in the first team picture.

Sergi Roberto also played a sparkling game against Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich side. Yet that cameo and 18 further minutes over three La Liga games are nothing more than conciliatory gestures from Martino.

Roberto's complete omission in some fixtures is baffling. He is often referred to as the natural heir to Xavi Hernandez yet is routinely overlooked by Martino.

It's fairly obvious that the club can ill afford another situation akin to that of Thiago Alcantara, but unless trust is soon placed in Roberto, then it would be reasonable to predict that he too will look to pastures new.

The argument that he and say Marc Bartra just aren't good enough to make the step up could be debated at length; however, in Bartra's case he has certainly made a decent case over the last few weeks to be considered as more than an occasional starter.

If you look at Bartra's statistics, there is no reason not to play him on a more regular basis, at the expense of either Javier Mascherano or the more high-profile but error-prone Gerard Pique. Bartra's passing accuracy of 90 percent during his all-too-brief appearances do give a glimpse into what he could provide longer term, given the opportunity.

With Barca again averaging their usual three goals a game and winning most matches at a canter, there can be little argument against not integrating the younger players—unless internal politics are dictating otherwise.

It sets a dangerous precedent.

Look at Barca B at the end of last season. Eusebio Sacristan's side played some wonderful football during the year with Gerard Deulofeu, Rafinha Alcantara and Dongou to the fore throughout. The expectation would be that those players would form part of this season's first-team picture.

Come this pre-season, however, and we find Deulofeu pitching up in the English Premier League with Everton, Rafinha working wonders at Celta Vigo, and Dongou still finding himself on the periphery in Catalonia.

For the record, Barca B now currently sit third bottom of the Segunda division.

Poignantly, the Liverpool Echo noted of Deulofeu:

"

Despite the four-time European champions desire for him to remain in the Spain this season, the player himself is of the belief a move elsewhere is the best place for him to develop.

“Eusebio (Barca B head coach) isn’t a coach that fills the player with confidence so it’s understandable he wants to play elsewhere,” Daily Mirror Spanish football expert David Cartlidge explained.

“Deulofeu shouldn’t be making this move, in a sense, because he should be learning at a Barcelona with structure. Right now, there isn’t one that he feels can make him a better player. That’s where Everton comes in.”

"

On the face of it, players too good for the "reserves" but deemed not good enough for Barca's first team.

Whether or not this is an accurate assessment, if Martino sticks to his current way of thinking/working, where do you honestly see those players fitting in?

Is Rafinha likely to step ahead of Roberto (let alone Xavi) in the pecking order? No. Is Deulofeu going to push Alexis Sanchez, Pedro Rodriguez, Neymar or Cristian Tello aside? No. Doungou replacing Lionel Messi? ... No.

There have been many others in the recent past. Victor Sanchez, Alberto Botia, Andreu Fontas and Marc Muniesa are just four other examples. All solid professionals but all now plying their trade elsewhere.

It must be soul-destroying for those players coming up through La Masia, and it may go some way to explaining why Hector Bellerin and Jon Toral left Barca for Arsenal and highly rated Sergi Canos has recently swapped Catalonia for Merseyside and Liverpool, aside from any monetary issues. 

The golden La Masia generation of 1987 (Messi, Gerard Pique, Cesc Fabregas), along with much of the rest of the side, appear to be something of an immovable object at present as far as the management team are concerned.

With UEFA Financial Fair Play now such a noise in world football, Barcelona not only need to make sure that their La Masia conveyor belt keeps producing the talent, but that such talent is valued and utilised at the first-team level.