Barcelona seek to reignite La Masia by promoting young Nili Perdomo

La Masia has failed to produce first-team quality since the time of the Alcantaras

When Pep Guardiola promoted Thiago and Rafinha, everyone thought that they would be the next big thing. They were, but couldn’t succeed at Barcelona. Thiago left for Bayern in search of first-team football and developed there while Rafinha made a name for himself at Celta Vigo. Rafinha is back at the Camp Nou and doing well while Thiago is being linked back to Barcelona. But since their time, La Masia hasn’t been able to produce a real talent. A player like Iniesta, and Xavi, has not shown up in the ranks of the ‘B’ team.

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Sergi Samper is a player with good potential, but is not doing much to realize it. The management has sold off Hector Bellerin and Alex Grimaldo and are unlikely to return. Wilfrid Kaptoum, Sandro Ramirez and Munir el Haddadi have flopped in the first-team and have left the club. Carles Alena has a lot to prove to Barcelona fans and the coach before he makes a claim to the midfield. Sergi Roberto, a La Masia product is a decent player but nowhere near as good as Dani Alves (with respect to his right-back role) or Sergio Busquets (with respect to his defensive midfielder role).

But Luis Enrique might have earmarked the ‘next big thing’ by including Nili Perdomo in the squad for the trip to Paris. Aleix Vidal has proved his mettle after being linked to a move elsewhere but has injured himself. He is out with an ankle problem and will not be back for 5 months. This has opened up the opportunity for Perdomo to make an impact.

Perdomo is not first-choice right-back for Barca ‘B’ but he has somehow captured the attention of Lucho. And that’s a very hard thing to do. Sergi Roberto has done a good job for Barcelona at right-back but he does not have the full skill-set for the role. He tires quickly and does not have a lot of stamina. Perdomo can cover for him and make Aleix Vidal’s return to the team harder.

The other option

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But the La Liga board has finally done something in Barca’s favour and given Robert Fernandez the opportunity to sign a player, in light of the injury sustained by Aleix Vidal and the club’s inactivity in the January transfer market. But it has certain restrictions-

• It has to be a player either currently playing in La Liga or without a contract, i.e unattached to a club.
• He will not be able to play in any European competitions but can participate in domestic competitions

The player who fulfill these conditions and was Robert’s targets before is Joao Cancelo. Therefore, Luis Enrique faces a decision. It is to either play Roberto and Vidal (after he returns) and assign the role of an understudy to Nili Perdomo, or to finalise the transfer of Joao Cancelo. If wants to continue the Barca tradition, he should bet on Perdomo. If he wants to buy success like Real Madrid, he should go for Joao Cancelo.

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What do you guys think, should Lucho decide to use Perdomo, or sign Cancelo? Tell us in the comments section down below. Cheers!