The trajectory of La Masia is back on the up, with the academy restored as a cornerstone of Barcelona's first team. The over reliance on expensive transfers has stopped with the club returning to the nurturing of their own talent, like Lamine Lamal, Pau Cubarsi, and Marc Casado. Barcelona has not only reconnected with its original identity, but set itself on a sustainable path.
Presenter Zac Djellab takes a deep dive into La Masia looking at the passion, style and the contribution of current manager Hansi Flick's commitment to embrace youth into the first team.
#lamineyamal #lamasia #barcelona #barcelonafc #laliga
Presenter Zac Djellab takes a deep dive into La Masia looking at the passion, style and the contribution of current manager Hansi Flick's commitment to embrace youth into the first team.
#lamineyamal #lamasia #barcelona #barcelonafc #laliga
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00:00Hello 442, how are you doing? Hope you're doing well. I'm Zach Jellub and the great people at
00:08442 have asked me today to make a video for them and jump on some content and talk a little bit
00:13about Barcelona. Now if you know me then I hope you are doing very well. Thank you for checking
00:19me out on here and I hope you enjoy the video. And if you don't know me, well I've been making
00:22football videos for nearly 10 years now over on a few different channels including my own.
00:28I'm no Adam Cleary, that is for sure. He's a legend of the game and I hope to honour his name in the
00:34best way I possibly can by talking enthusiastically about football. And as you can see by the title
00:42of the video we're going to be talking about Barcelona and more specifically La Masia, one of
00:47the greatest academies in football that once produced the likes of Lionel Messi, Xavi and Iniesta along
00:53with a lot more. Now we all remember the days when La Masia graduates with a heart and soul
00:58of the Barcelona team. But things changed quite quickly during the mid-2010s and went from a club
01:05that focused on the academy to a club that shifted its focus onto big money transfers and external
01:10signings. And the homegrown talent was sidelined. So we'll explore why Barcelona stopped producing so
01:16many academy products into the first team, what made them abandon their core roots and most importantly
01:22why they're turning back to La Masia, a decision that has already coincided with a very good season.
01:28So let's start off with a little bit of history. La Masia wasn't just a training ground but essentially
01:33was the identity of FC Barcelona. In the early 2000s the academy produced a golden generation that
01:39revolutionised the club and won countless titles and many other trophies along with changing the way
01:45football was played. In 2012 there was the headline the 11 from La Masia when Barcelona first fielded a
01:53full squad, a full starting 11 of 11 Barcelona academy graduates. This included the likes of Victor
01:59Valdez in goal, Carlos Puyol, Gerard Piquet, Xavi Iniesca, Busquets and of course Lionel Mene up top
02:06along with some others, Pedro being another one. But then in the following years Barcelona's strategy
02:12shifted. Under presidents like Bartomeu the club started spending astronomical amounts of money
02:18and brought in a bunch of high profile signings that weren't coming from the academy, the likes
02:22of Neymar and Luis Suarez who ended up being not too bad. Now whilst those two worked out quite well
02:27for Barcelona winning the Champions League along other things, there were other signings that didn't
02:31quite work out so well and later on we saw this move create a two-folded problem. Number one, it's quite
02:37easy to realise but with more players coming in from other clubs and more money being spent on them,
02:42there was a lack of first team opportunities for academy players and rather than giving them time
02:48to develop and try and become a solution for the club, it meant that Barcelona instead tried to find
02:52high profile costly fixes that wouldn't necessarily beat the club for a long time. And secondly, a cultural
02:59shift. With a constant influx of foreign players, it means Barca's identity, something that was grown
03:05when you're in the academy, tiki-taka, playing with the ball at your feet, pass and move, meant that it
03:10wasn't happening as much. It was fading away. As one commentator put it, he said La Masia was no
03:16longer the first option. It became a secondary route. Now statistics back this up. Between 2010
03:21and 2015, the majority of the first team was made of La Masia graduates. But seasons after, there was a
03:27significant drop-off from academy players making the cut. During that period, from 2010 to 2015,
03:33homegrown talents from La Masia made up roughly 50% to 60% of the first team roster. Now in the
03:40following seasons from 2015, that number dropped massively to 15% to 20%. And it meant that a lot
03:48of promising young talents went and moved elsewhere to find first team opportunities. Danny Olmo,
03:54Xavi Simons, Marco Correa and Nico Gonzalez all left Barcelona. Now the fact that these guys had to move
03:59to other huge clubs to get the opportunities shows you that not only were they losing players because
04:04they couldn't get first team minutes, they were losing great quality players that other huge clubs
04:09were after. And also shows that La Masia was able to still create players that could perform on the
04:14biggest stage. And sadly for fans, it was a painful departure from what tradition felt like at Barcelona.
04:20The club's identity built on teamwork, technical skill, passing, a shared understanding of something
04:26they'd learnt when they were kids at the academy, basically started to suffer.
04:31Now if you fast forward to today, obviously things in the Barcelona squad have changed yet again.
04:36And there's a few different reasons as to why. Financial constraints and huge debts that were
04:41rising forced Barcelona to re-examine their current transfer strategy. With less money to spend on
04:46summer and winter transfers, it meant the club had to go back to what they know best, their academy.
04:51Enter the new era under managers like Xavi and more recently Hansi Flick, a man with a clear vision
04:57for the game. He has been super supportive about the growth of homegrown players. And in a recent
05:03interview said, we have 17 or 18 players who can play minutes. That is fantastic. And the club's
05:10successful season so far is a real big testament to that change. Under Xavi, of course, a couple of
05:15seasons ago, they won La Liga. Now this season, they've already won the Supercoppa under Flick.
05:21They're currently top of La Liga at the time of recording. They are level one points with Real
05:24Madrid. But again, a star-studded Real Madrid. They're still in the Copa del Rey. They're also
05:30one of the most feared teams in the Champions League. And they're set to face Borussia Dortmund
05:34in that competition in the quarterfinals. And then you can just look at some of the players
05:38they're producing. I mean, my God, on the right wing, they've got one of the most exciting
05:43players in the world right now in La Masia graduate, Laminya Mao. At just 17 years old, he's already
05:49breaking record after record after record. I mean, just one to mention, he's the youngest
05:55scorer in El Clasico history. I think he's one of the youngest scorers in, if not the
05:59youngest scorer in European competition history. They just keep going. And of course, they've
06:05got other super exciting players like Paolo Cubasi, who's basically evolutionized that
06:10Barcelona defense and has been crucial to the way Barcelona want to play under Hansi Flick.
06:15Not to forget, Marc Casado, who's doing really well in the heart of midfield as well, along
06:20with a bunch of others who are making significant contributions. And when reflecting on the resurgence
06:25of homegrown talent getting back into the Barcelona side, the former Barcelona La Masia director,
06:30Ruli Altamira, remarked, La Masia has always been the quickest and safest way to produce ready-made
06:36players for Barcelona. And now, more than ever, it's vital we protect and nurture that tradition.
06:42The previous manager, Hansi Flick, Xavi, had also echoed these same statements, repeatedly
06:47praising academy graduates for their fearless attitude, a trait he believes sets them apart
06:52from other players. These insights highlight a huge and deliberate shift that is happening at
06:57the camp now, and bringing their attention and focus back on the academy and what they can do for
07:02the first team. And again, the numbers back this up. Barcelona's resurgence has been super impressive.
07:08So far this season, the team has already scored 124 goals across all competitions, and remain
07:14unbeaten in 15 matches this year. Now, their dynamic play, combined with the confidence and very
07:20impressive technical prowess of these young talents, has revitalised the club's traditional
07:25tiki-taka style, plus with a little bit of sprinkled German magic from Hansi Flick. And you can really put
07:31what's happened down to three key stages here. Firstly, the financial necessity. With reduced chance of
07:36budgets, it meant they had to bring players through. Secondly, managerial philosophy. Coaches like Xavi
07:41and Flick all believe in youth and the development of them, and how good La Masia actually is. And
07:48thirdly, a cultural reconnection. The return of La Masia players for the first team is reconnecting fans
07:53with the values that they feel Barcelona should have. And players themselves are actually shocked to see
07:58what's happened at Barcelona, and what's gone right for them. Pau Cabasi said in an interview,
08:02they told us three years ago that Le Min and I would be here, and we wouldn't believe it. And
08:07there was also a huge change in 2014. To find these high-level academy players, they got the academy
08:13coaches to go scouting for these players. The club believed it would mean that Barcelona would go back
08:19to their roots, and be able to find players who'd fit their system, because the coaches know what makes
08:24a Barca player. Now, I've mentioned him a few times, but we do have to go back to Hansi Flick,
08:28because he's an important piece of the puzzle, and his tactical system just embraces youth. Now,
08:34Flick's approach is something that is aggressive yet structured, and really blends the high-pressing
08:38style that he wants, along with fluid transitional attacking play. Now, when you look at the system,
08:44it perfectly suits players who grew up in La Masia with Barcelona's style of play. For example,
08:50Luminium has the ability to take on a defender, and put in a precise cross, find the right dribble,
08:55to put in a shot into the top left-hand corner. All happens because of this. Now, under Flick,
09:01the team hasn't just got better in the attacking phase, they've also got better with collective
09:05pressing as well. One key stat is that Barcelona now average over 8.7 high turnovers per game.
09:12Basically, it means winning the ball back up the pitch, high in the opposition's half. You could
09:17just see Barcelona do this in every single game. They have a high line with the defence,
09:20high line with the midfield, and the attack is super high as well. All pressing really together,
09:25in a collective way. And that's a huge improvement based off of previous seasons,
09:29and a lot of that, I think, is due to the youngsters who are really proving the way this
09:34can be done in the team. Now, the impact of going back to La Masia is clear. Barcelona aren't just
09:39surviving, they're not bobbling along, they're absolutely thriving. I mentioned earlier,
09:42they're one of the most feared teams in Europe right now. They've overcome the transfer mania era
09:47of bringing in super high-profile players who don't necessarily do what they were set out to
09:53achieve at the club. Griezmann comes to mind. Griezmann was absolutely fine at Barcelona,
09:57but he didn't become the superstar that I think everyone wanted him to be with a fee that was
10:02paid. And they've gone back and shown the world that a club focused on its own identity can compete
10:07at the highest level. Now, as the season progresses, the blend of youth, tactical intelligence,
10:12and a deep-rooted footballing philosophy will no doubt bring even more success. To sum up,
10:18the journey of La Masia from a sideline academy now to a cornerstone of a very successful Barcelona
10:25side is quite simply remarkable. By stopping the over-reliance on expensive transfers and returning
10:31to the nurturing of their own talent, it means Barcelona has not only reconnected with its identity,
10:37but has also set itself on a sustainable path for the future. Continuing the growing number of over
10:42200 academy players making their first team debut since 1979. The numbers, the style, the passion on
10:51display all point to one thing and one thing only. La Masia is back. So there we have it. I hope you guys
10:57have enjoyed watching this deep dive on La Masia, the rise, the fall, and the rise again of Barcelona's
11:02academy, and one of the most historic academies in the world. If you have enjoyed them, please like the
11:07video, subscribe to the 442 channel. Let them know you've enjoyed it. Hopefully, I'll see you guys all
11:12again here on this channel. You can check me out by searching my name, Zach Jellib, and I'll see you
11:17guys very, very soon. Let us know as well down below what other clubs you'd like us to cover,
11:22stories, players, whatever it might be. Maybe we'll do it as well. So see you later. Thanks, guys. Bye.