The next Barcelona player tipped for stardom from La Masia

If Barcelona want to stay competitive across multiple competitions over the coming years, they’ll need to continue to produce talent in-house. The financial situation at the club means they’ll be unable to compete for the best players on the market, at least for now.

Fortunately for Barcelona, their La Masia academy is one of the best in the world along with the likes of Benfica in Portugal and Ajax in The Netherlands.

Already this year we’ve seen Lamine Yamal make the jump at the age of 16, and the Barça Atlètic team is brimming with talent. Players like Noah Darvich and Mikayil Faye are generating significant buzz, but another player has caught the eye of Xavi and the management team.

Héctor Fort seen as the natural replacement for Joao Cancelo

Fort is just 17 years old but has been one of the shining stars for Barça Atlètic so far this season, despite the Barcelona B side having lost more games (3) than they’ve won (2).

It was widely expected that Fort would appear for the youth teams this season, but an injury to new signing Trilli, who was signed this summer from Deportivo de la Coruña opened the door for Fort to make that right-back position his own, and he’s done just that starting all 7 games and becoming a reliable piece of the puzzle for Rafael Márquez.

Already capped at the youth levels for the Spanish national team, Fort is now being tipped as a future star at Barcelona.

According to a new report in Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona have been left impressed with Fort and he could arrive in the first-team set-up within weeks or months, rather than years.

"From the club’s sports management they are very satisfied with the evolution of the young footballer and if he maintains his progression everything indicates that we will see him sooner rather than later under the command of Xavi ."

The ideal situation is that Fort continues his development with Barcelona B where he can play consistently, while some training sessions with the first-team could be productive, Barcelona don’t want a young player like Fort just warming the bench.