La Masia the heart of Barca

[Lovethegame]

Last season the Premiership stamped their mark on European football as the force to catch up to. Serie A and the Primera Division have both been surpassed and this was shown in the Champions League Final contested between Englands two biggest clubs, Chelsea and Manchester United. But one thing that the Premier league has not surpassed are the youth academies that the continental clubs have set up. Dutch football is renowned for producing exciting young talent and having a great infrastructure to produce and enhance this talent. But recently there is one youth academy that has been head and shoulders above the rest and that is Barcelona''s youth system in which La Masia is at the heart of the set up.

The talent that has been produced the past few years is phenomenal with the likes of Messi, Fabregas, Dos Santos, Pique and Bojan. All of these players are internationals at respective levels and will all have a huge impact on world football if they have not already. It is not just this new generation that has made strides into the first team, products of La Masia are Josep Guardiola, Ivan De La Pena, Charles Puyol, Xavi Hernandez, Jose Reina and Victor Valdes.

Much is stated about how Arsenal swiped Fabregas from Barca, this is not totally true as the player recently commented that he was about to sign for Espanyol before Arsene Wenger made a move for him due to Barcelona not offering him a full-time deal. He is the only player out of all stated that has not made a first team appearance for Barcelona.

La Masia is an ancient country residence that was built in 1702, it consists of two floors and a few attics. It houses 60 young men, it must be stated that La Masia only houses players that have to move to Barcelona due to it being to far to travel everyday. It was first used by the club when they were building the Nou Camp in the early 50''s in which the architects and builders built models of the stadium. After being used for various other projects it was established as the teams residence for youth players in October 1979.

English football clubs have used housing like this for a long time in which we call "digs", where a few young players live in a house and are looked after by an adult. But this is not the same as La Masia they use it as a precious institution for young players to bond and find a team spirit as well as teaching them the latest techniques in football.

The one problem that Barcelona FC have discovered is that they are having troubles keeping hold of these young talented men. With the resources that English clubs have they can throw a silly amount of money at these young men and some might take the bait, which has happened already. Surely the easier way is for Premiership clubs to start using the same template and bring through there own youth, that is easier said than done but will have to be looked at if Sepp Blatter has his way in pushing throw his 6 and 5 rule.

[aliciawitt]

"The player who has passed through La Masia has something different to the rest, it's a plus that only comes from having competed in a Barcelona shirt from the time you were a child."

– Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola

[therocket147]

The future is looking bright for Barcelona at the minute

[GoingGoingGooner]

Barcelona claim to be more than a club but their continued tapping up of Arsenal players in an attempt to destabilise them lacks class. They either use their pet newspaper or have players like Xavi commenting ad nauseum about how the player wants to leave. Whereas before I would save my bile for the antics of Sp*rs fans or the way SAF controls referees in Old Blighty, I am more and more disliking the arrogance of Barcelona.

I am happy that I learned how to play football before Barcelona invented it.

[cristano]

Barcelona is one of the most powerfull team in premier league and i love to watch their matches, all football fans agree that massi is one of the most talented player in football game.