Can Barcelona pull off Chelsea’s ‘loan army’ strategy?

Chelsea have a modern and successful youth system, can Barcelona replicate it?

Michael Emenalo was a relatively unknown quantity when Roman Abramovich decided to hire him as scout in 2007, as part of the management under Avram Grant. But in the next 10 years, the Russian billionaire had no idea how the Nigerian would redefine the youth coaching system.

After spending 3 years as scout, Emenalo was promoted to the position of assistant coach before gaining a further promotion, to that of the position of sporting director. Emenalo worked with 6 managers during his tenure at Stamford Bridge, revolutionising the loaning system in Europe.

Emenalo adopted a policy of signing youngsters from different academies from Europe, but mostly concentrated in England. He allowed them to spend a season with the Chelsea youth setup before sending them off on loan to the Championship or to the Eredivisie.

In his 6 seasons as Chelsea sporting director, the former Nigerian defender oversaw 228 loan transactions. Some of the loanees returned to the club to become members of the first-team, including Thibaut Courtois, Andreas Christensen and Victor Moses.

Some of the academy products moved to their loan clubs on a permanent basis, like Ryan Bertrand, Nathan Aké, Patrick van Aanholt and Thorgan Hazard. On the other hands, some players left after finding it hard to get opportunities in the first-team.

There are some very high-profile players who have graduated from Chelsea’s youth academy and were part of their ‘loan army’ at some point, including Premier League stars Romelu Lukaku and Kevin de Bruyne, Christian Atsu and Bertrand Traoré.

Players like Tammy Abraham and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are still at Chelsea, trying to fight for a spot in the first-team. They might be offloaded on loan yet again this summer. But regardless, this strategy is almost flawless, even though it may be unethical at times.

Barcelona have the resources and the talent to execute this strategy. In order to pull this off, the club will need to expand its scouting network in Europe but the players coming through from La Masia are good enough to ply their trade in any top European league.

In fact, Barcelona B play very weak opponents in the third tier of Spanish football. If the top players from La Masia were shipped off on loan to the Eredivisie or Ligue 1, where they is less competition for the title, they could get a lot of playing time.

The youth players would get accustomed to the level of football required at the top. They develop in a very closed atmosphere at La Masia, with little or no intrusion from outside. They also grow up playing the same group of players because they belong in the same generation.

For example, a group of players graduating from La Masia would face the same group of players from a top European club’s youth team in the different tiers of youth football looked after by UEFA because they were all born in the same timeline.

If they are sent out on loan, they can get experience which may prove to be invaluable in a later stage in their careers. If they fail to break into the first-team squad at the Camp Nou, they would be able to find a club in any European first-division easily, with the La Masia and competitive experience.

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The ‘loan army’ system is also financially beneficial for any club that implements it. Although the initial costs are high because the academy cannot attract enough youngsters to build a pool of talent big enough and the club needs to lure young players from outside, its a long-term project.

Some of these players may have a lot of potential, and even if their transfer fee is taken into consideration, the club would pocket a huge profit when the player is finally offloaded. This is where the ethical factor comes in, but in this inflated transfer market, it is okay to disregard ethics.

But in order to ensure that the essence of La Masia is not lost, the club should ensure that the local players are not disregarded, and they should form the majority of Barça B, while the foreign youngsters can go out on loan, like at Chelsea.

Currently, there are a lot of players in the B squad who would benefit hugely from a loan move at this stage in their careers, most notably starlets Riqui Puig and Abel Ruiz, who were instrumental in the Juvenil A’s title-winning campaign in the UEFA Youth League.

This project will require huge funding initially. But like the Blues, the club can reap a lot of benefit from it. The club’s transfer spree will be coming to an end by the end of next season, and then, the board can look to build for the future, with the ‘loan army’.

Éric Abidal has proven his negotiating skills this summer. But if the club decides to build a ‘loan army’, his overall skills will be tested, as he will be required to take part in negotiations day and night. But the Frenchman should be up for the test, especially considering his performance this summer.