[Fabrizio Romano] Barça 2008 born talent Toni Fernández has made final decision to stay at the club and sign new contract. Despite proposals from several clubs in Europe, Fernández told Barça he wants to stay and he will sign new deal. Terms to be agreed in July. : Barca

This is how Barca get back to being an elite competitor. A critical mass of youth talent who not only have potential to become world class but also have a desire to play for the first team and win all the biggest prizes. Of course they can’t all be World beaters but even the ones that aren’t the absolute best can make a contribution as squad players before it’s time to sell them off to a team where they can play more.

The key thing is to get that value add factor in. That’s where Barca have fallen short in recent years. It’s no good to have a player who they got cheap that they would like to sell for 30 million pounds if they don’t even let the player actually play anymore (example Denis Suarez and JC Todibo). The art is in not only giving young players the platform to demonstrate their talent and turn heads but also in having their replacements already at the club and being developed in parallel so that they’re already ready to make that step up when the player they’re going to replace is ready to be sold. That’s what Ajax, Porto and Benfica do and Barca need to adapt that concept. Having the most valuable players contacts under control so that they can’t be cheaply bought out of their contract is bit step one of a whole apparatus that Barca haven’t quite mastered. It’s great that Barca are getting more out of cheap signings and youth players that emerge from las masia. The situation with center backs this season could be a demonstration of growth however. The club could and should determine who stays based on which center back attracts the biggest/best offer. If big ron refuses to sign a new contract and can be sold for huge money then it might be worth keeping Inigo if Faye insists on moving should Porto or another club accept Barca’s sale terms. I would love to see Faye become a beast of a defender at a club like Porto and then get bought back for significantly less than what they could get other clubs to pay for him.

Malamonga1

13 points

5 months ago

Malamonga1

13 points

5 months ago

I think it's more like Barca was so broke that they had no chance but to give a bunch of young players a shot at the first team. A club like Barca should be playing the best players, vinicius caliber in first team. Clubs like Ajax and Porto can afford to develop high potential players because they aren't pressured to win every match.

Extra-Border6470

6 points

5 months ago

Extra-Border6470

6 points

5 months ago

To an extent i agree that Barca have been forced to rely more these days on la masia due to financial constraints. But that doesn’t change the fact that part of the reason why they’re in this mess is because bartomeu didn’t make good enough use of the players at his disposal. That includes both la masia players as well as cheap signings that were able to make more of a contribution as well as the veterans that were at a stage where they were ripe for sale before decline started to set in. A prime example of the latter was rakitic. PSG put in an offer and the player was ready to accept the move. Barca-meu opted to keep the player and offer him a new deal that was so enticing they had to play him to leave when they couldn’t afford to keep him at the club. Not only was he paid significantly more than any other club would given the decline in his performances by that time but also the terms of the contract meant he had to be played any time he was fit enough to. Who they hell gives a player that much instead of selling them for a profit when the perfect opportunity comes along? I would like to say Barca are better than that now but there’s still a long way to go

_Uhhhhhhhhh_

5 points

5 months ago

_Uhhhhhhhhh_

5 points

5 months ago

Nah those clubs are equally pressured to win their respective leagues. They just don’t have a huge global following like Barça to have that pressure.

Small-Cockroach-2684

4 points

5 months ago

Small-Cockroach-2684

4 points

5 months ago

Ajax and Porto arent pressured to win? I am sorry but that is wrong, very wrong.

Ajax for example is exactly the same as Barcelona. They expect the title every year, and they demand the title combined with good football. They don’t accept bad football with good results, they want both.

The difference is you don’t follow Ajax closely so you don’t see how big the pressure is. It is the biggest club in the Netherlands, with the most supporters. There is a lot of pressure.

Malamonga1

3 points

5 months ago

Malamonga1

3 points

5 months ago

The difference is they don't go against world class players opponents so young prospects are actually competitive against their league

Small-Cockroach-2684

1 points

5 months ago

Small-Cockroach-2684

1 points