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Has Barcelona became too good for La Masia?

By Shubham Kumar

ZURICH, SWITZERLAND - JANUARY 10: Lionel Messi (c) of Argentina alongside Xavi (r) and Andres Iniesta (l) of Spain during a press conference ahead of the FIFA Ballon d'or Gala at the Zurich Kongresshaus on January 10, 2011 in Zurich, Switzerland. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND - JANUARY 10: Lionel Messi (c) of Argentina alongside Xavi (r) and Andres Iniesta (l) of Spain during a press conference ahead of the FIFA Ballon d'or Gala at the Zurich Kongresshaus on January 10, 2011 in Zurich, Switzerland. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images) /
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Barcelona has begun to buy players for millions and is abandoning youth players from their system. Has La Masia has lost its meaning?

La Masia which has produced so many superstars of the game like Xavi, Iniesta, Cesc, Pique, Busquets, Messi, David Villa etc. is known as one of the best Youth Academies in the world. It was set up by none other than the most iconic man in Barcelona history Johan Cryuff. La Masia created history in 2010 when all three nominees of Ballon D’Or were the graduates from the academy.

Over the years, La Masia has given great service to the club. A major landmark was achieved when Tito Vilanova started the match with all academy players but what happened now? It all started when Luis Enrique took over as a manager. In his first season he sold Deulofeu to Everton who is now a top target this summer. Luis Enrique brought players in like Andre Gomes and Paco Alcácer but abandoned home-grown players like Sergi Samper, Munir and Sandro, who scored 14 goals this season for Malaga.

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So what’s next for the club? If rumors have to be believed, the club is set to sell their two finest academy players i.e Mbola and Eric Garcia to Monaco and Manchester City respectively.  It all comes at a time when Barcelona are struggling to integrate world-class players into their style of game. With Valverde on as the new manager, one can only hope Barcelona will focus again on their academy which helped them to win so many trophies over the years.

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Long story short, the club needs to refocus on their academy just like Real Madrid did under Zinedine Zidane. Valverde must give chances to academy players for a long reign again. After all, La Masia is one of the most famed academies in world football. It’s time for Barcelona to take advantage of that once again.