Ranking Barcelona Academy Graduates to First Team in Last 2 Seasons on Potential
Barcelona have long been regarded as one of the foremost clubs in the world when it comes to producing talent via their own academy system.
La Masia has brought the likes of Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique and Lionel Messi to the first-team scene at the Camp Nou, but even those who don't fully make the grade as Barca stars go on to reach elite levels elsewhere.
Gerard Deulofeu, Marc Bartra and Thiago Alcantara are all examples of those who are full internationals and regulars on the European stage, having moved on from the bright lights of La Liga and the Blaugrana.
The ideal situation for Barca, of course, remains to produce youngsters good enough to stay involved with the first team, and even though the regular graduates have slowed in recent seasons, Luis Enrique has played several starlets over the past two seasons.
Those players will hope for more game time in future under new boss Ernesto Valverde, so we've ranked each of the nine who remain at the club according to their potential and how close they might go to making it as a first-teamer.
Joint 7. Borja Lopez, Nili and Juan Camara
There are three who, though they have made their debuts in Barcelona shirts, are extremely unlikely to ever feature again, let alone be regulars.
Lucho featured two 23-year-olds from the B team in the Copa del Rey during the 1-1 draw at Hercules: centre-back Borja Lopez and full-back Nili. The latter is out of contract this summer.
One year earlier, Juan Camara made two sub appearances down the left side, one in the Champions League, but at age 23, he's unlikely to make a step up.
Camara spent the 2016/17 season on loan at Girona in the second tier in Spain and failed to make any sort of impact, making just three league appearances.
Aitor Cantalapiedra, meanwhile, has already moved on from Barca to Villarreal, so he isn't included in our rankings. Munir and Sandro Ramirez have likewise moved on, the former temporarily and Sandro permanently, but Munir is a more senior player—capped at international level—than these still trying to break through.
6. Marc Cardona
Young players don't just need to be good to break into the team at Barcelona, they need to be outstanding, immediately and consistency.
Marc Cardona has talent, is a goalscorer and has already made two appearances for the seniors, but he's not likely to become a regular on the teamsheet.
A haul of 15 goals in the Segunda B league this season, the third tier in Spain, helped the B team enormously, but at age 21, there have been far more prolific strikers than him who haven't made the grade at the Camp Nou.
There's the chance he'll see further game time, given he featured in the Champions League and was on the bench in La Liga as recently as April, but a regular?
We're not banking on it.
5. Alex Carbonell
Central midfielder Alex Carbonell has progressed through the ranks at Barca via a spell at Cornella, and the 19-year-old made his debut in the Copa del Rey this season.
A holding player with pleasingly mixed traits—tenacity in the challenge and composure in possession—he faces an awful lot of competition for game time even at B-team level, without considering the jump to the first-team scene.
Carbonell wasn't a guaranteed starter for the B team in 2016/17, but clearly, former manager Luis Enrique saw enough in him to take a leap of faith, and the midfielder will hope for more of the same under Valverde.
He began life as a right-back at La Masia.
4. Gerard Gumbau
Luis Enrique raised eyebrows in 15/16 when he repeatedly involved Gerard Gumbau in his squads, bringing the rangy midfielder off the bench a number of times when the first team were short through injuries.
Not that Gumbau didn't appear a good player; his talent on the ball was undeniable, and his stature impressive as a roving interior, but most had expected Sergi Samper—more on him shortly—to be the one to step up.
Gumbau played eight times that season all told, in league, cup and European competitions, and his star seemed very much on the rise—but that hasn't continued.
He didn't even make the bench once for the seniors last season, missed a spell with the B team after falling out of favour and now, aged 22, has a decision to make. His contract ends this summer, and if the B team don't win promotion to La Segunda, can he afford to wait around in the third tier?
On the plus side, it was Gumbau who kept promotion hopes alive with a fine strike to see off Cartagena in the play-offs.
3. Wilfried Kaptoum
Like Gumbau, Kaptoum featured in 2015/16, making three appearances, but he didn't tally a single minute for the first team in the season just ended. He was on the bench once in La Liga, against Betis back in August, but played no part.
Unlike Gumbau, Kaptoum is not playing a critical role in the B team's ascension bid: just four appearances in the final 15 games of the season, and two brief cameo appearances off the bench in the playoffs so far.
Still, Kaptoum has already shown he has real qualities that will be highly regarded, if not at Barcelona then elsewhere.
The 20-year-old is hugely impressive with his capacity to shrug off bigger opponents, surge into space with the ball and run at opposition defenders from his midfield role.
He isn't particularly refined with the final ball, and clearly has taken a backward step this year, but there's lots to work with nonetheless, and he has a year or two on many of his older positional rivals.
2. Sergi Samper
For a long time, it seemed only a matter of months, or maybe a year at most, until Sergi Samper made the breakthrough at Barcelona...but that year has never quite come around.
The talented central midfielder has everything he needs to be a star in the centre of the park—except consistency, not just week-to-week but also within the same game at times, as he can follow up some excellent defensive work with a few passes lacking in concentration.
Positionally, he'll improve with game time, of which he saw a fair amount in 2016/17 on loan at Granada, tallying 1,300 minutes all told.
But Samper's role, the holder in midfield, comes with such responsibility that it requires him to be near-perfect to be entrusted with taking Sergio Busquets' place.
There's still a chance he does so, but at 22, he needs next season to go right for him—whether at Barcelona or elsewhere. He's under contract until 2019, so it should only be another temporary deal away if Valverde decides he's not yet good enough to count on.
1. Carles Alena
Top of the prospects to make it at Barcelona has to be Carles Alena, the teenage midfielder who has impressed in his brief game time thus far.
The 19-year-old has quick feet, balance in the dribble and a great eye for a pass, and being able to play wide or through the centre will be of great benefit to both he and his coach next season and beyond.
He told Goal he prefers to play on the right of three in the centre: "I try to feel good wherever I play, but if you ask me, that's the position I like the best, so that I can cut inside."
Alena still has another year to run on his contract and is set for a new deal, per Sport, and near the start of last season, he was labelled by B/R's Sam Tighe as Iniesta's possible heir.
There's work to do to fit in on a more regular basis among the seniors, but he has the talent and temperament to make the step up.
Now it's about proving to Valverde he's good enough to be considered on the same level as the likes of Ivan Rakitic and Rafinha, who has already transitioned from La Masia talent to senior regular.
Alena is aware of the task in front of him.
"I want to stay here and reach the first team, that's clear. But in football, you never know. It's a world in which a lot of things change,, and I know I could end up somewhere else. But my objective is to be here for many more years."
The quality he has should ensure he has a great chance to do that, and Barca fans would love another graduate from La Masia to become a mainstay of the team heading into the next decade.
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