La Masia: A sad example for England’s elite academies

La Masia. The farmhouse. Founded in 1979 by Johan Cruyff, Barcelona’s academy is dubbed by many to be the best in Europe. With many of La Masia’s graduates playing a starring role in the Spanish giants’ new found success, the question presents itself more ferociously than ever: What separates La Masia from the rest? And how does this reflect on the academies of the biggest clubs across Europe.

First, let’s rewind 4 years - to the 20/21 season. Barcelona hadn’t won the league for 2 years with both Madrid sides beating them to the title. This was the first time this had happened since 2008 so it isn’t an exaggeration to say that this was seen as a period of crisis for the catalan giants. Copious news and media articles began to hammer the club’s board and recruitment policy whilst many people believed that the magic of La Masia had well and truly faded. Academy prospects such as Oscar Mingueza, Ilaix Moriba, Riqui Puig, Nico Gonzalez and Eric Garcia had all failed to make a significant dent at senior level, which most experts would not have foreshadowed. Barcelona were no longer producing elite academy talents and the football talent factory of La Masia was no longer what it once was.

But is that really what was happening?

No. It wasn’t. The reason for La Masia faulting is the same reason why we see such a lack of elite academy talents emerging from Europe’s biggest clubs.

They are too big for their academy. 

This is a concept I will get onto later, but for now let’s go back to La Masia briefly.

La Masia is not like most other academies, which I’m sure people are now aware of. So how do they do it? Are there scouts just that much better? Is their coaching simply superior to the rest? Do they pump their young kids with steroids? Who knows. What is definitely known is their philosophy. A philosophy which combines the dream of football’s greatest mind with a play-style that is football’s closest impersonation of true art. Everyone knows about Johan Cruyff and what he has done for modern football. When Cruyff arrived at Barcelona in the 1990s, he ripped out the foundations of the club and started again. He envisioned football as a beautiful symphony of movement and quick passing, with emphasis on technical prowess and creativity and just like in the Netherlands with Ajax, Barcelona was the canvas on which he would paint his dream. The academy of Barcelona became focused on these traits and looked to build on them, finding players who maybe weren’t the biggest or most athletic but who played football ‘the right way’ in the club’s eyes. This is the basis of La Masia and the philosophy of Cruyff’s total football was drilled into every Barcelona youth team, no matter the age. It was drilled into every La Masia player, from the under 8s all the way to Barcelona Athletic, the club’s B team.

This leads to the birth of Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas, Messi, Thiago, some of the best technicians the sport has ever seen. It leads to the birth of Pep, who perfected Cruyff’s philosophy with his iteration of ‘tiki-taka’ which created the best club side of the 21st century and at the core of it this squad, lay La Masia graduates. 

Fast forward to 20/21 and this football love-child created by Cruyff and Guardiola still reigned supreme in Barcelona’s academy. But it wasn’t producing results, the player quality emerging from La Masia dwindling and nobody knew why. But if you looked slightly beneath the surface, the answer to this problem was as clear as day. 

The academy was absolutely fine, Barcelona was the problem.

During this period of turmoil within Barca, they were spending a lof of money. A ludicrous amount of money on players that didn’t warrant these transfer fees. Players such as Philippe Coutinho, Ousman Dembele, Antoine Griezmann, Mirelim Pjanic and Malcolm all arrived to Catalonia for extortionate fees. Alturo Vidal and Paulinho arrived to the club in the same period on exuberantly high wages. In hindsight, these were stupid transfers that perfectly illustrated the way that Barcelona was being run at that time, but what wasn’t so clear was the detrimental effect this was having on La Masia.

You see, when you are winning games constantly and challenging for trophies, barely anyone is bothered about incorporating youth which is a problem itself and I will later get onto, but what is a bigger problem is if you aren’t winning games. The issue was with all of these big money signings, none of them lived up to their price tag apart from potentially Vidal and Paulinho. They were all shadows of former selves and for the time they were at Barcelona, their role had virtually been reduced to backboards for Messi to bounce the ball off. These players weren’t good enough for Barcelona’s standards and more importantly they cost the catalan club way too much money. This made it much harder to ship them off elsewhere as Barca would’ve lost a lot of money on them. So they were awful and cost too much, there was nowhere for them to go and the youngsters suffered as a result.

They weren’t being played enough. And when they played it was in a toxic environment surrounded by players who weren’t bothered about being there, under an uninspiring manager with lackluster tactical finesse. How are you meant to thrive if these are the circumstances around you? People didn’t realise that La Masia hadn’t faulted, there was just no real way that any of these prospects could succeed. They weren’t bad players.

Ilaix Moriba was, and still is a huge talent whilst players such as Nico Gonzalez and Oscar Mingueza have begun to live up to their potential, with the prior being called up to Spain’s national team after performing brilliantly for Celta Vigo this season. Under the right environment, where they were allowed to play consistently with freedom, who’s to say these players would never have succeeded at their parent club. Every player who graduates from La Masia, make no mistake, is a brilliant football player. According to former Barcelona academy director Jordi Roura, ‘Even at youth level, Barca have to win. Those who have been at the club for years are used to passing an exam every year. By the time they reach the first team, players are used to a certain amount of pressure, and they can take it with a certain amount of normality.’ These players didn’t graduate from any professional academy, they graduated from La Masia. Where the technical quality and football IQ you need to succeed, will already separate you from the majority of professional players in the country. This is exemplified by what is happening now at Barca, where the youth is thriving in a way not seen since the early Pep era and although, just like with Pep, there are some generational talents that have been lurking in the youth teams of Barcelona that are only now being released, Barcelona’s success with La Masia in recent years cannot be solely attributed to that. 

Realistically, if Barcelona had not been run so poorly in terms of the way they have been financially destroyed by Laporta and in particular Bartomeu, would we even see the 2nd golden generation of La Masia thriving? The same thing happened with Pep that has happened under Xavi and Flick - money was scarce and big-money signings were virtually impossible so coaches has no choice but to turn to their academy. If the funds were there to sign some of the world’s best players, the case can be made that the likes of Pep and Flick would never have had to delve into the La Masia talent factory.

 Of course, the obscene talents of Iniesta, Messi, Yamal, Cubarsi and Gavi would’ve all been incorporated into the senior team, that was always going to happen. But, how many others would’ve made it? Not only made it but how many others would have thrived the way they have/had done if these coaches had the luxury of being able to buy the best players in the world for big money. Sadly, we will never know but this cannot be a coincidence. Of course, there are certain factors that may help my point, such as elite coaches like Pep and Flick, being able to nurture and improve these players and also experienced leaders who are still willing to play for the badge, the likes of Puyol, Xavi and Lewandowksi spring to mind. These are players who would be able to teach the youngsters how to succeed at this level, keeping a level head and getting the best out of their copious bundles of ability. Without these factors, this surge we saw in the senior team may never have happened to the extent it did, however there is no disputing that the main catalyst for this was the fact that the coaches at the time were forced into picking these youngsters as there was no alternative. They were forced to play them consistently and they were given countless opportunities to shine. As the players racked up more minutes under their belt, their talent began to shine through and we were able to witness something beautiful. 

But a question remains.

But where does that leave the elite English academies? Does the same concept apply to them? When I said that they are too big for their academies, I may have caused some confusion. But in reality, the concept is simple - academy players now just are not given the same opportunities that Barcelona have been forced to give theirs. The stakes always seem to be too high. However, when their hands are forced in one way or another, whether it be through injuries, a transfer ban or lack of spending money or even when poor form forces a a manager to bring through some energetic youth, and the academy players are made to play big minutes during the season, many have played a large role in their teams’ success. Take Chelsea for example, who in the 2019/20 season faced a transfer ban for two windows. After losing their star man in Eden Hazard and without being able to sign the players needed to plug the holes in their ageing squad, Chelsea had to promote from within. Academy players such as Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori, Andreas Christensen, Reece James, Tammy Abraham and Callum Hudson-Odoi all became important members of the Chelsea squad that season in which the Blues were able to exceed everyone’s expectations and finish 4th whilst also reaching an FA cup final with many also playing a starring role in Chelsea’s champions league win the season after. Similarly, Arsenal who were massively struggling for form during the 2018/19 season saw two starlets in Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe make their debuts late in the calendar year. Quickly they became 2 of their side’s most pivotal players, as their youthful energy and exuberant freedom rubbed off on their fellow teammates. Many Arsenal fans argue that these two players were the main reason why manager Mikel Arteta wasn’t sacked as they often carried their side on their teenage backs and saw their stocks soar. We are even seeing the same phenomenon now. Real Madrid’s centre-backs are basically all injured and in comes a 21 year old Raul Asencio, straight from the Castilla youth team. He had never played a game for the 1st team but as soon as he stepped into Eder Militao’s substantially large boots, it was seamless and he now looks right at home (although it's been 3 games).

There are many more examples across Europe of teams having no choice but to play their academy players who instantly impress and an upturn in their team’s form consequently improves. The reason we are seeing what we are seeing in Catalonia is not because the La Masia academy is so vastly superior to any other, it's because Barcelona’s hand was forced. Yes, their academy is arguably the best in Europe and the players they produce are flourishing all across Europe, but ask yourself this: If Barcelona had current abundance of financial resources as a Chelsea or a PSG, would we be seeing Casado, Marc Bernal, Pablo Torre and others all break through so tremendously this season or would we be seeing them on loan to Real Valladolid before they’re bought for £8,000,000 and go on to have a fairly decent career bouncing around Spain’s most average clubs?

Now, more than ever, the talent in elite English academies is absolutely astonishing. Ever since the calamity of the 2016 Euros, the FA have done a fantastic job of mirroring the likes of Barcelona and Ajax in developing more technically secure and naturally skilled players instead of the more physically superior players which were always admired previously. This has seen talents such as Phil Foden, Kobbie Mainoo, Rico Lewis, Cole Palmer and others begin to flourish - players who may not have made it all the way if the FA hadn’t changed thor approach in nurturing England’s best players. With copious amounts of talent spread around every age group of the country’s best academies, in particularly, Manchester City, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool - it is a shame that these players aren’t being afforded the chances that their Catalan counterparts are blissfully gobbling up.

With competitiveness and quality improving year on year in the prem, the chance to play academy players seems to be diminishing with each passing game. Man City have been on a torrid run of form, not winning a game in 8, but Pep is still reluctant to throw on the youngsters. Could they really be worse than what we’re currently seeing? Considering the u21s beat the senior team in training many times, the answer is probably no. If City are to get a transfer ban due to the 115 charges, I can assure you that there will be a huge influx of academy players getting 100x more minutes than they are receiving now and I will bet a lot of money that many will end up being future superstars. 

With more money from TV and commercial deals, there lies more money for the clubs which they can spend on transfers to bolster their squads. It seems as if in England, if you are not deemed an ‘elite prospect’ who can go on to be one of the best in their position in the world, chances are you are getting little to no consistent minutes. Was Casado deemed a world-beater of a talent before he was chucked in at the deep end? No, not really. He was 21 and had barely played any minutes for the senior team. But that is now the harsh reality of the premier league and the best of the best academies in England.

Players who are more than good enough to succeed at the highest level will be tossed out to the championship or league one, in the harshest of environments that will see them fade into obscurity in favour of big money signings who are seen as players with more potential or starpower. I’m sorry but if you are a fan of a prem team, especially a big 6 team, the chances are the next Marc Casado or Fermin Lopez for your club has already been sold or will be getting sold in the very near future. 

The talent is there in abundance and they are ready to flourish - but for England’s biggest academies it is too much of a risk and thus these superstars in waiting, who just need one chance, will never get to shine.

La Masia CAN be emulated, it just takes a bit of patience, belief and a forward-thinking project that sees the value in its academy.