FC Barcelona have become renowned for their outstanding youth development, but Junaid Benjamin questions whether that really is the case.
Football is a sport that has become notorious for chewing young players up before spitting them back into the real world, destroying their dreams of one day playing at the highest levels. Sometimes they are deemed to just not be good enough to earn a spot in the club's first team while on other occasions it could be due to the club's mishandling of the starlets.
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There are many variables when it comes to a youngster fulfilling his potential. Sometimes, it could even just boil down to luck. There have been players who were incredibly talented but were unlucky with fitness, picking up injury after injury before completely ruining their prospects of professional football. Football can be an angel to some and a dream-wrecking devil to others.
Having said that, much credit needs to be given to Barcelona, who seem to do as much as it can to give aspiring players every chance of success. They have produced some outstanding talent over the years, a glamorous list that includes players such as Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Pep Guardiola, Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Mikel Arteta, and many more. In recent years, La Masia has produced talents such as 16-year-old prodigy Lamine Yamal, Pedri and Gavi too.
They also, however, have a considerable list of players who were once touted to be incredible footballers but ended up failing to meet the high expectations that were initially placed on their shoulders. It could have been a mind-set thing for some of them, and something entirely different for others.
That weight of expectation could be the sole reason some players fail. Firstly, being thrown into the first team at the Camp Nou may seem like a dream scenario but the reality of the situation is that not many starlets are properly equipped to handle that pressure. It is a process that needs to be thought out and implemented meticulously in order to ensure a player's long-term security not only at the club, but in the sport as a whole. Giovani dos Santos, for example, made 38 appearances for Barcelona after making his debut as a teenager.
Besides some serious competition for a place in the starting line-up, he was also unfortunate enough to be compared to one of the game's greats in Ronaldinho, which would immediately have put a certain pressure on the player. Perhaps in a scenario such as that, the club could have done more to separate the comparisons and allow him to come up without that added strain, allowing him to be himself.
Dos Santos then made the move, in search of more first-team minutes, to Tottenham Hotspur, where he reportedly picked up a habit of partying, and floundered. The now 34-year-old is retired after a career that consisted of various permanent moves, loan spells, and periods of being a free agent. It makes one think about how things could have gone differently if a little more time had been put into his full development, mental and physical, before throwing him in the pond with bigger fish.
Another, more recent, example of a player being chucked into the mix perhaps a little too early is Ansu Fati, who is currently floating under the radar at Brighton Hove Albion after bursting on to the scene as a teenager, making his professional debut at the tender age of 16 in 2019. He was even touted to be "the next Messi", but now looks to be on the path treaded by those who had failed to live up to expectations.
Before moving to England on loan last year, he had already racked up 112 first-team appearances for the LALIGA giants. They came, however, at a price. He tore a meniscus in his left knee during a league match in 2020. He ended up missing 64 games and has never quite been the same. This raises question marks around the club's management of these players after their debuts. While it seems like a fantastic thing, it has to be asked whether or not a young player is able to handle being selected every week while they are still in key stages of their development. Perhaps less game time and more development should be the focus.
Another young Barcelona midfielder, Gavi, has suffered from injury after becoming a key figure for the starting XI. According to reports, the 19-year-old is scheduled to be out for the remainder of the 2023/24 season with a cruciate ligament tear, while it is also said to be likely that he will miss the 2024 UEFA European Championship with Spain later this year.
As such, one also fears for 16-year-old Lamine Yamal, who has already featured 36 times for Barca in all competitions this season. One can only hope that the warning signs will be heeded.
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