The Youth Thread | Even our kids win trebles | Barça B in La Segunda & other Blaugrana Kids

Yes, Kiko is an offensive player, right winger or right side attacking midfielder. That's why they are trying to sign another RB supposedly for Barca B.

But it also points to a couple other things

(1) how hard it can be to get PT even on the B squad (Kiko made 34 Liga appearances for Hercules their most recent season in the first division before joining Barca B, and 35 the year before when they won promotion from Segunda) he did get 30 appearances for Barca B last year so not all bad but he was judged by many a disappointment (only 5 goals, not considered the brightest light on B, Cuenca and Tello got promotions that some thought Kiko might have gotten when season started); and

(2) the trend of Barca to move players with great technique back to be defenders - something we've seen with Mascherano (DM to CB), with JDS (attacking midfielder to DM and even RB), Toure (also attacking midfielder to DM to CB though the latter due to injuries/suspensions), Busquets (DM to CB albeit without great results), even Pique was a DM now playing CB; even new Barca players Jordi Alba and Adriano (from wingers to fullbacks) and Barca target Javi Martinez went from midfielder to CB; Keita too went from attacking/box-to-box midfielder to mainly getting PT at DM. Basically, as has been talked about elsewhere, Barca seemingly wants to play 10 midfielders at once, 10 players with the utmost technique/on-the-ball skills and stamina playing at all times so that they can freely overlap and all can contribute to breaking down the proverbial bus we often face. Amongst the forwards we see this with Messi adopting a false 9 position and dropping deep, or alternatively with Cesc or Iniesta playing up front.

So moving Kiko back just might be what he needs to see his Barca career blossom. Then again he's got Alves, Montoya, and Adriano in front of him at RB, and Balliu in front at RB for Barca B. Maybe he just needed a year with Barca to more fully adapt and we'll see him shine offensively this season.

Barça B complete deal for Agostinho Cá & Edgar Ié


http://www.fcbarcelona.com/football...rca-b-complete-deal-for-agostinho-ca-edgar-ie

Here is Sandro Reyes highlights video. Outstanding ball control and vision for someone so young.

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Agostinho Cá and Edgar Ié sign four-year deals


http://www.fcbarcelona.com/football...gostinho-ca-and-edgar-ie-sign-four-year-deals

Cá and Ié? Is La Masia running short on lettering for the backs of their jerseys?

Thought you guys might be interested in this article from the Philippines on 9 y/o Sandro Reyes:

http://sports.inquirer.net/53849/filipino-kid-kicks-his-way-into-football-greatness

Aside from the Barcelona camp in Singapore, he underwent two trials at Barcelona in Spain with the final trial down to 32 kids who were divided between 2 camps of 16. He scored 4 goals and 5 assists in that final scrimmage even though he wasn't 100 % as he was still recovering from an injury. Even though he was small and not too strong compared to his peers Barcelona was looking for a player that would fit their style of play which is based on one touch passing and movement and emphasizes technical ability and the ability to read the game and not just on physical strength or stature.

He is described by his coach as the prototypical # 10:

“I see him more as a conductor on the field—a creative midfielder who can distribute the ball and feed the strikers. He’s equally deadly with both feet,” said Lambey.
“He would watch Barcelona games on television live at 2 a.m. and would discuss the game with you in the morning,” said Lambey. “He’s a fan of the game and he studies the game.”
Lambey added: “I see the hunger, I see the fight to be one of the best that he could be. He’s a hard worker and so everything that you teach him, he takes it home and he studies it.”

My hope is that he makes the same impact at FCBarcelona as Filipino player Paulino Alcantara who still holds the record at Barca for scoring the most goals(369 goals in 357 games) in all competitions(friendlies as well as official games) for the club as well as being the youngest at 15 to score a goal for the team in an official match which he did more than a century ago.

A longer piece on Sergio Ayala, newly promoted CB for Barca B, translated from Mundo Deportivo by TotalBarca's Amanda:
http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/sergio-ayala-from-maldini-to-pique/

Barca B add two more players and extend Masip, look all set for additions, now the challenge is to offload 3 players I think - we have 28 on roster and I think we only can carry 25:

Official: Barcelona announce the transfer of Nastic (relegated from 2nd to 3rd div last season) right back Sergi Juste (20) for the B-team

Official: Barcelona announce that the contract of Barcelona B goalkeeper Jordi Masip (23) has been renewed for two more years, until 2015

Official: Barcelona announce the signing of Sevilla B forward Luis Alberto (19) for the B-team, pending medical, 1-year loan plus buy option
Tw Luis Alberto: "Medical tests. First picture with my new colours. Greetings to all! http://bit.ly/OXPyFu " [@14_luisalberto]


http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/luis-alberto-travels-to-barcelona-to-sign-his-contract/

here's the barca b squad going to England for a couple friendlies but bear in mind players with the "a team": Sergi Roberto, Rafinha Alcantara, Cristian Tello, Ilie Sanchez
players injured:Edgar Ie and Sergio Ayala
player on his way out (as our squad is too big and crowded up front: Rodri

We beat Huddersfield Town 2-0, with goals from Deulofeu (pk) and Araujo, and drew 2-2 with Bolton Wanderers, goals scored by Lobato and Balliu. Sergi Gomez also scored an own goal, unfortunately.

We also beat Palamos (0-4) and tied with Logrones (0-0). We only conceded 2 goals in the pre-season, the two at the Reebok Stadium, out of 4 games.

Our Segunda Division campaign starts today, at home to Almeria. Kiko Femenia, Sergio Ayala, and Edgar Ie are the players missing for the match through injury problems, Cristian Tello and Sergi Roberto remain with the first team squad for now.

Eusebio Sacristan's comments on the match below in the article;

http://www.fcbarcelona.com/football...e/eusebio-we-re-ready-for-the-season-to-start

Our Juvenil B team is currently in Mexico right now participating in the U-17 Copa Independencia tournament, which started on the 14th and ends on the 19th, this Sunday. The team is coached by Garcia Pimienta.

We beat Mexican side Club America 2-1 in our first match, but lost to Boca Juniors 1-0 and Chivas de Guadalajara 2-1, leaving us second from bottom in our group with no chance of going through ahead of our final match against Monarcas Morelia, which is being played at 11:00 CET.

The standings currently look like this;

Boca Juniors 4 3 1 0 7 3 +4 10
Chivas 3 2 1 0 5 3 +2 7
Morelia 3 1 0 2 2 2 0 3
Barcelona 3 1 0 2 3 4 -1 3
América 3 0 0 3 2 7 -5 0

Could be 1 down, still two to go if our roster is to be trimmed to 25 players - the max for segunda I believe: Barcelona B forward Rodri (22) is undergoing medical tests at English second division club Sheffield Wednesday. [rac1]

Delofeu scored a golazo of a freekick vs Almeria tonight. We end up losing anyways with a man down, Planas got sent of end of first half.
Barca B 4-5 Almeria FT

Watched the first half. Really poor defending from Planas on the second goal. The red card just topped off his terrible day, I don't think he has much of a future at Barcelona anymore. Grimaldo and Alba are clearly more talented and these two are our long term fixtures at the left back position.

The defending wasn't too good from either side. I'm not sure how well our B team will cope at the back with the losses of Bartra, Muniesa, and Montoya this summer, this wasn't a very good sign today.

Highlights of the Barca B 4-5 Almeria game;



Deulofeu seems to have matured a lot in the last year from watching him in pre-season, U19 Euros with Spain, and the B team games. This was a very good performance from him today. That freekick goal.

The two biggest problems of this team is, in my opinion, the coach and the defense. Eusebio isn't the right coach for this team, this game is just more of the same from last season when we kept throwing away one, two, and even sometimes three goal leads. We need someone who is going to make these kids competitive and develop them into smart, composed players who can be called upon when the first team needs them. Right now, we don't have many defenders that we could trust in the first team from this side. Planas and Lomban are very average and not Barca quality, while Balliu isn't much special. Besides Alves and Montoya are going to be our rightbacks for quite some time so I don't see much of a future for him here. Though, he can play at leftback as well so maybe if he can just improve his game, he could yet get some hope. Sergi Gomez is poor at defending crosses, but seems pretty decent on the ball. He is probably the B team's most talented defender after Grimaldo and I still think he has a future here, but he has a learning process to go through and this game was a rough one for him. He recently came back from injury as well so it's maybe not too big of a surprise that he didn't seem so sharp.

Espinosa looked good too, his pass to Deulofeu for the first goal was Xavi-esque and he looked threatening in midfield all game long. I think this is a big season for him because he's turning 20 soon and if he wants to have a future in the first team, he'll have to step his game up to the levels of his teammates Sergi Roberto and Rafinha (who impressed once more) if he wants to be amongst the first options to get a chance in our midfield.

Dongou wasn't very active throughout the game, but his movement was good and he had some moments where he troubled the Almeria defense. His first goal showed how good he has at getting away from his marker and it was a nice and easy finish for him put on a plate by Gerry D. I don't know too much about the comparisons made between him and Eto'o as they aren't really similar in style, but he is impressing me so far when I watch him play. He just turned 17 a few months ago so he's got plenty of time on his hands to get to the required level that could get him promoted but, again, I'd like to see him get more involved in the buildup play and get into a few more promising positions where he could release some shots.

Not too much to say on the others. Lobato was quiet but had some moments, nothing too serious though. Ilie seemed ok but Oier disappointed me at times with his goalkeeping. I don't think we have a goalkeeper coming up in the youth ranks that could potentially make it to the first team right now. We sold Pol Balleste to Villarreal, Miguel Banuz and Jordi Masip are on the bench for the B team, Ruben Mino left to Mallorca...seems like we might have some spending to do in this position when the time comes for us to need a new keeper when Valdes hangs his boots up. Still a while away, though.

In other news, our Juvenil B team beat Monarcas Morelia 4-2 in their final group match of the U-17 Copa Independencia in Mexico. Jordi Ortega, Mamadou Tonkara, Sergio Buenacasa, and Albert Torras (our top scorer with 2 goals) all scored, from what I read upon about the game. We finished two points off a place in the semifinals which Chivas de Guadalajara took ahead of us. They'll play Internacional Porto Alegre tomorrow and Boca Juniors will face Fiorentina in the other match. Final is at the Azteca on Sunday afternoon.

Also, our Juvenil A team (coached by Jordi Vinyals) started their 2012/13 NextGen Series campaign on Wednesday evening at home to Belgian side Anderlecht. The game ended in a 1-1 draw at the Mini Estadi, Tony Sanabria scored our only goal ten minutes before the end after Nathan Kabasele had given RSC the lead in the 66th minute. Thanks to fcbarcelona's Youtube channel, the full game was provided and can be watched in the video below.



Wasn't a standout performance from the team overall in my opinion, but Bagnack and Lucas looked like some of our best players out there. Samper had a good game too, but could have been better at times. Not sure why Enguene and Quintilla didn't start the game though, they're some of the hottest players in that team. Next game is away to Tottenham on September 13th.

GD's 3 goals for Barca B in the losing effort:

Nice stream here for the Castilla-Barca B game; http://www.thefirstrow.eu/watch/137232/1/watch-real-madrid-castilla-vs-barcelona-b.html

We're already 1-0 down, Juanfran with the goal after 11 minutes.

We lost 3-2. Sergi Roberto scored a penalty and Mejias had an own goal.

The performance in the second half was pretty decent but we didn't create much through on the ground passing, more through crosses and shots from wide areas. Our midfield was better than theirs, but again the defending was shambolic. The second goal made it evident, Lomban crashed into Gomez which left both of them on the ground in pain and Denis scored for Castilla. Their third goal was bizarre, the assistant raised his flag for offside but the ref waved play on and they scored. Not sure what happend there.

We'll probably stay in the Segunda in all probability, but to concede 8 goals in just two matches is very poor. We need more discipline back there and we're not getting it with Eusebio. Honestly we should start looking for a new B-team coach, he's just not cut out for management like he was as a player.

I agree. What's the name of that one dude who lives in Manhattan again? Can't remember though thought and thought. I might be off here, but I think he'd do fine.

Adding this as Macky Frank sounds interesting (17 y.o.). Also, if someone can comment on the Deulofeu situation that would be interesting. Apparently Eusebio has benched him as he has not been hustling defensively yet he still debuted for Spain u-21 and is on Barca's CL squad, trouble brewing, attitude problems, lack of club coordination or just too much of a mountain of a mole hill.

Much of the 2nd half action was taking place in a congested midfield. On 68 minutes Sergi Gomez was shown a direct red card, his second red in 3 games. It provides Eusebio with a real headache as the player, no doubt, has to serve a reasonably lengthy ban and Barca are fairly thin on the ground as far as centre halves are concerned. This meant a slight reshuffle for the manager which included the introduction of 17 year old Cameroon starlet Macky Frank Bagnack, making his debut for the B side. It’s a wonderful turnaround in fortunes for a great prospect, who was out of the game for 18 months following a nasty leg break. Good things are expected from him and hopefully he will graduate from ‘la masia’ with flying colours.



Read more: http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/news/match-review-cd-guadalajara-0-1-fc-barcelona-b/#ixzz25z2IKAWx

here's an article which follows up on Gerard Dee-oo-le-fee-oo, love him or hate him: http://www.totalbarca.com/2012/youth/gerard-deulofeu-his-own-worst-enemy/

We have signed a 17-year old player from Madrid. Munir El Haddadi, apparently he also had offers from Manchester City, Real Madrid, Rayo Vallecano, Getafe y Osasuna.

He will start in Juvenil B.

!

Deulofeu scored for the U21 national team today:

another "new Messi", 13 y.o. coming to La Masia from Malaga, "the jewel of Málaga's youth players, Brahim Abdelkader Díaz" : http://www.marca.com/2012/09/10/en/football/barcelona/1347292618.html

Koeman on whether recently promoted Barca B / La Masia defenders are up to it a vote on non-confidence in players just promoted (Bartra, Muniesa, probably Fontas too): Discussing his misgivings about the centre of defence, Koeman did not pull any punches: "I have my doubts about the defenders promoted from the B-team. I don't know if they are up to the task of playing in the first team. If not, they will have to sign a top-class centre-back", he stated.