Soccer / la masia

It remains the most world-renowned academy in the game, synonymous with talent and style. It's the production line associated with some of Spain's greatest ever players. Now, however, what used to be an integral part of the Barcelona way is quickly becoming an afterthought. While being a La Masia graduate remains an alluring aspect on a footballer's CV, the actual meaning of graduating from the academy is eroding fast. What has gone wrong at Barcelona's talent factory? Is there any hope of taking it back to its glory days? And would you be surprised if I told you that part of the problem is attributed to club legend Pep Guardiola? Johan Cruyff & The Rise of La Masia It's April 1988 and FC Barcelona is in literal mutiny. They find themselves in a tax scandal which leads to the players and coach Luis Aragones eagerly demanding Club President Josep Nunez's resignation. Nunez, wary of his deteriorating popularity amongst the Barca fans, needs a populist move to win back favour. On the 5th of May 1988 Barcelona hired club legend, icon and innovator Johan Cruyff as its new first team coach. They would never look back. He immediately turned his attention to unifying the club, starting with the system. He implemented his widely recognised and respected Total Football approach to the game throughout all levels of the club, introducing the ideas of free-flowing football as well as his standard 3-4-3 formation to all of Barcelona's squads, from the shallow depths of La Masia to the first team, effectively unifying the club's philosophy and playing style into one team. All teams were expected to play fast-paced, one/two touch football with a high press. Cruyff once stated that in his teams "the goalkeeper is the first attacker, and the striker the first defender". To this day, remnants of this quote can be seen in the Barcelona team. To achieve this, Cruyff demanded quick, technical players. He removed the height requirement in La Masia's recruitment policy and drilled his philosophy into the youth players with the idea of rapidly promoting them through the age groups and, eventually, into the first team. He wanted to create a perpetual and reliable conveyor belt of players that fitted his Total Football philosophy and, for the most part, he succeeded in doing so. Cruyff wasn't scared to promote from within and gave 32 La Masia graduates their debuts. One of those debutants, was future coach and self-declared Cruyffista Pep Guardiola who was one of two La Masia graduates who featured in the victorious 1992 European cup final against Sampdoria, the other being centre back Albert Ferrer. The best of the La Masia products, however, would be developed in the late '90s and early 2000s, shortly after Cruyff was sacked after a falling out with Club President Nunez in 1996. The prestigious alumni include Xavi, Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol, Victor Valdes, Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, Jordi Alba and, of course, Lionel Messi. The Downfall In 2007, Barcelona B, La Masia's main development squad, found itself in a dire situation having been relegated down to Spain's fourth division. In came the aforementioned Pep Guardiola, tasked with turning around its fortune. He did this by introducing older, more experienced players into the team to compliment the youngsters as a short term solution to improving results. He referred to them as 'foundation players'. This is where the problem begins. The plan was to move these foundation players on after a couple of seasons to avoid blocking the path of the youth players, but after Guardiola’s promotion to the Barcelona first team and the hiring of Eusebio to manage the B team, this principle was abandoned and these older players would go on to take up places that would’ve once been held by La Masia propsects, thus preventing them from proving themselves worthy of the first team. This issue was amplified by the ever-rising standards of being a Barcelona player as the better the first team players became, the harder it was to replace them. As these standards have risen throughout the years, more and more players have found it impossible to make the cut. You could say the academy has become a victim of its own initial success. Many academy players began abandoning the system including Dani Olmo, Alex Grimaldo, Cristian Tello, Bojan and Takefusa Kubo amongst many others. While their dream of playing regular first team football would be realised, the success of their overall careers is mixed. Bojan currently finds himself in the MLS at Montreal Impact after a disappointing spell at Stoke City, Tello finds himself coasting at Real Betis where he has had two fairly average seasons, Grimaldo has starred as Benfica’s first choice left-back and is awaiting a big move, as is Dani Olmo, currently playing for Croatia’s Dinamo Zagreb. Takefusa Kubo has already got his big move, recently choosing rivals Real Madrid over a return to Barcelona after a spell in his native Japan. If that doesn’t portray the current failings of La Masia, I don’t know what does. Saving La Masia Current club president Josep Bartomeu announced a project to revitalise the prestigious academy. He called it ‘Masia 360’ with the aim of investing in a more rounded perspective of a youth player’s development, including better education, access to psychological facilities as well as set-aside finances to keep the academy’s best coaches from leaving. The plan has failed miserably. Space formerly used to house La Masia prospects outside of Barcelona has since been renovated into admin offices and the food served by the canteen has been deemed below nutritional standards. Their supplier, Sodexo, has contracts to supply school canteens and even prisons – surely not the standard of food that football’s best and brightest academy stars demand. The coaching standards have also taken a hit. Coaches were often drafted in from other clubs who were unfamiliar with the origins and the philosophy La Masia was founded and grown upon. La Masia will never run short of pedigree. Its alumni will forever be recognised and respected, but you can’t help but think that its downfall was so preventable. It’s no longer the priority it once was and under the current club presidency, sacrifices are being made that would no doubt appall its creators. Barcelona needs some form of resurgence, a Johan Cruyff-type figure to help revive one of football’s greatest achievements and unify the club once more. There is some promise though and perhaps the likes of Ansu Fati, Riqui Puig and Carles Alena can help reinvigorate the spark that’s been missing for so long. Spanish football can only hope.